I'm Only Me When I'm With You
by Embyr7
Summary: Alek and Chloe are the best of friends, nothing more, nothing less. A new guy comes into town, and he takes a liking to Chloe. Will it make them realize that they really are meant for each other? Or will it just tear their friendship apart? No Mai!
1. Best Friends

**Chloe's POV**

I heard a loud crash, a curse, and then my bedroom door flung open. I was in my bed, pillow covering my head to block out the light, half-asleep.

"Chloe! Wake up!" I heard a British accent holler in my ear, and I groaned and rolled over, blindly kicking my leg out hoping to hit him. It didn't. He picked me up and spun me around, making me dizzy.

"How did you even get in my house?" I screamed. He rolled his eyes.

"How do you think? Like always."

You see, Alek and I have been best friends since, I dunno, we were born? Our parents were college buddies and when they found out that they were neighbors, they were ecstatic. My mom and his mom both got pregnant around the same time, and it just so happens Alek was three days older than me. We've been best friends since we were born, and he knew everything about me-such as where I keep the spare keys. But he actually had a key to my house, as I did to his, so I don't even know why I asked that question.

"You're gonna be late for school." Alek said, walking down to my kitchen. I heard him rifling through my cabinets looking for food. I rolled my eyes and sat up. Alek had set me back on the bed, but pulled the blankets from me so that I couldn't snuggle up and get comfy again. I took a quick shower and changed into a black lacey tank top, and layered it with a short dark blue tank top on top. I got a string of long pearls and chains and laid them around my neck. I pulled on white shorts to match the pearls and sandals, and my backpack.

It was the third week of school, and was still pretty hot. I let my curls run free and ran downstairs to meet Alek, who was yelling my name. We jumped into his car and we drove to school, after he passed me some toast.

Alek was my neighbor, but he practically lived with me. He woke me up every morning, knowing that I hated the sound of alarm clocks-it ruined the morning peace, you know? But here's the thing.

At school, I was invisible. Unpopular, and not seen by anybody. Alek, however, was a big football jock, and the most wanted guy in school. The guys wanted to be him, and the girls practically swooned and fell at his feet whenever he walked past.

But who could help it? He was tall, blonde, with warm brown eyes and a striking British accent. He was muscular and one of the only jocks who wasn't a total asshole. Hey-I said he wasn't a _total_ asshole. He was still pretty annoying.

But because of the extremely large difference in our social status, we didn't exactly talk in school. Yes, everybody knew we were best friends, but they probably have never seen us talk other than the beginning or end of school when we ride home together. We really do talk, though. He rarely ever lives in his house because my mum is always on a business trip of some sort and my dad is missing.

He has his own room in my house, but he liked to sleep in mine. We said a quick bye to each other and I walked into the school, sighing.

Just another normal day. I would go back to being invisible with my two friends Amy and Paul and he would go on being the king of the school, living in the spotlight.

Another thing? Alek and I had every class together. When we compared schedules on the first day of school, we were extremely happy. But after we got over the excitement of having the exact same schedule as your best friend, we realized we didn't talk to each other anyway. I sat down in between Amy and Paul, and rested my chin on my palm. The teacher blabbed on, when suddenly I picked up the words 'new student.' My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

We hardly ever got new students. Our town was so small that this was a big thing for us.

"Please let me introduce, Brian Rezza." A boy walked through the room, and I could already feel every single girl in the room drooling for him. He was tall and muscular, and he had piercing green eyes and messy brown hair. It was hard to decide who was more gorgeous-him or Alek.

Not that I like Alek in _that_ way. We're best friends-that's disgusting. Dating him would be like dating a brother, except he was so much more than a brother.

"Hi, I'm Brian." He half-smiled, and I swear I heard some girls sigh dreamily. He sat down in the seat in front of me, and I couldn't help but stare a little. He had broad shoulders and tan skin. The bell rang for first period, and I got up. Amy and Paul went to math, and I had to go to english. I shoved my way through the crowded hallways when someone bumped into me and knocked my binders out of my hand, sending my papers flying through the air.

I sighed and bent down to pick them up. Suddenly, I felt someone drop their bag beside me and help me. I looked up, and was extremely surprised to look into already-familiar green eyes.

"Hey, you okay?" Brian asked, adorably tilting his head to the side.

"Uhm, yea!" I stuttered, taking the papers from his hand and shoving them back into my binder.

"Thanks so much. I'm Chloe, by the way." I said, standing up and slinging my bag back onto my shoulder. He did his little crooked smile again.

"Brian."

"What class do you have next?"

"Um, English with Mrs. Howell." He said, shoving his schedule back into his jean pocket. I grinned.

"Great! That's my next class too."

"Walk with me?" He offered.

"Sure." We walked in silence to english, but for some reason it wasn't awkward at all. I just felt so..comfortable with him. We walked through the door, the bell ringing loudly right as we stepped into the classroom. I heard gasps and whispers.

Who would've thought? Invisible Chloe King becoming friends with the already-popular hot new guy. The day went by quickly, and I realized I had four classes with Brian. He and I got closer-I knew his favorite bands, subjects, and how his family was like, and vice versa.

The bell rang for the end of school, and people piled into the hallways. I gasped and dropped my notebooks, again, when someone wrapped their arms around my waist from behind, picked me up and spun me around.

"Hey there, cutie." Alek smirked, setting me down. I rolled my eyes and sat down on one of the benches as he scooped up my notebooks.

"Hi." I replied, opening my arms and taking my notebooks back. People were watching us curiously, obviously having heard that I was his best friend but never really seeing us actually have a conversation since elementary school.

"What do you want for dinner tonight? I was thinking we could go to the new restaurant they opened in town-it's Italian food. Your favorite." Alek said, looking down at his phone, which was searching up the address of the restaurant already.

"Well what if I already have plans?" I teased.

He looked up, eyebrow cocked. "You never have plans. It's Friday night. We always go out to dinner on Friday night. It's our best-friend tradition."

"You're not my only best friend, you know." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Lucky you. You're my only best friend." He smiled cutely. I heard some 'aww's from the audience. I looked up at them and rolled my eyes.

I sighed and shook my head. I spoil him. But it's okay-I was lying about having plans with Amy and Paul, anyway.

"That sounds good. We can watch a movie afterward." I suggested, it being a Friday night.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go." He said. He threw his arm around my shoulder and we pushed our way through the crowd, and walked to his car, talking about things only best friends could talk about. On the way home, we argued about whether mermaids grew legs when on land or shriveled up and died.

He had to go home and grab clothes and I called Amy up and talked to her on the phone. I had to hang up when the doorbell rang.

I was surprised. Alek has never rang the doorbell in his life-he just walked in like he owned the place. My parents would come in with their keys, and I wasn't expecting anyone. I opened the tall wooden door and came face-to-face with..Brian.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Chloe?" He exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

I chuckled. "I could be asking you the same thing..you _are_ on my front porch, you know."

"Oh." He brushed a hand to the back of his head. "My parents wanted me to greet my new neighbors-we live right across from you." He pointed back with his thumb.

"Oh! That's awesome." I smiled. "My mum is almost always on a business trip, though, so usually it's only Alek and I."

"What about your dad?" He cocked his head to the side, confused. I bit my lip and looked up.

"It's..it's a long story. Let's just say he's not around anymore." I shrugged.

"So is Alek your brother?" Brian asked. I laughed.

"Absolutely not. He's my best friend. He lives right over there." I pointed to the little white house to the left of mine.

"And I'm right here." Alek suddenly appeared behind Brian, a gym bag stuffed with clothes slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, we talked in school." Brian said.

"Yea. We did." Alek brushed past us and walked into the house, stopping behind me. "We should get going soon, Chloe. It's almost time for dinner." And with that, Alek slammed the door in Brian's face. My eyebrows shot up.

"What the hell was _that_?" I spun around, catching Alek's wrist with my hand.

"What was what?" He asked in his innocent voice, his face doing his 'I didn't do anything wrong' look. But I know he only does that face when he _knows _he's done something wrong.

"You were totally rude to Brian! And you slammed the door in his face!" I exclaimed. He shrugged.

"I don't like him, that's all."

"Why not? He's really sweet." I was confused.

"Well maybe because he was trying to flirt with you." Alek snapped. I was taken aback. Alek never snapped at me. We have never, ever fought before. I mean, we've had minor fights that resulted to us making up and hugging in the next thirty seconds. But he was never actually _angry _with me. Just..kind of irritated.

"Well why does it matter to you?" I snapped back, fighting fire with fire. He looked equally as shocked as I felt.

"I don't want you dating some guy who's a total jerk!" Alek shouted, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"You barely _know_ him!" I shouted back, stomping my foot in anger.

"My point exactly! _You_ barely know him, either, yet you were flirting with him!"

"I wasn't _flirting, _we were talking!" We started walking towards each other while we were screaming at each other, and our faces were extremely close now. I could feel his breath tickle my cheek and I leaned my head back to glare at him.

"I know how you flirt, Chloe. You blush and giggle and twirl _this_ curl around your fingers." He picked up one of my curls and dropped it.

"Well why would it matter to you? You can't make decisions for me." I was fuming. I could tell my cheeks were red, and my heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

"You know what? Fine. Go date that guy who you've known for oh, I don't know, about eight hours, and go against _me_, who you've known the moment you were _born._" Alek glared icily. He walked out of the front door and back to his house.

My mouth dropped open in shock. Alek _never_ slept at his house on Friday nights. Friday nights were our nights. Where we would catch up on things we missed about each other over the week, and watch movies and eat so much junk food it made us sick. My adrenaline kick died down, and I slumped against a wall, sliding down to sit, my knees pulled up to my chest.

That was the first real fight where Alek and I screamed at each other. The first real fight where he just.. _left._ I expected him to run back through the door and hug me, and say he was sorry for overreacting. But he didn't.

I let out a little sob. I had to admit-I was a little scared. I felt so extremely small and lonely in my huge house, with no one else there.

**So what did you guys think? This is going to be a pretty long story, so please review and leave some feedback! It would mean the world to me. The more reviews I get, the faster Chapter 2 comes up![;**


	2. Destroy What Destroys You

_I let out a little sob. I had to admit-I was a little scared. I felt so extremely small and lonely in my huge house, with no one else there. _

**Alek's POV**

I stomped out of Chloe's house, my face red. I stopped a couple feet from her door and leaned against her walls, breathing heavily, the cold seeping into my back. I raked a hand painfully through my tangled blonde hair.

That was our first _real_ fight. And it was horrible. I felt like I just stabbed myself in the heart a million times. I heard Chloe collapse to the floor and let out a sob. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, wanting to run back in and immediately apologize. I wanted to pull her into my arms and rock her back and forth, like I did the day her dad left. But I didn't. I knew she would just push me away and scream at me some more. So I picked up my gym bag, and for the first time since I was five, slept in my own room on a Friday night.

**Chloe's POV**

I woke up Saturday morning on my own. I blinked and sat up, the first time I've woken up without a certain blonde British boy sitting on the bed next to me. I blinked back tears and stood up, getting ready to change. But then I saw something on my desk that caught my eye.

A can of Dr. Pepper. I was extremely confused for a moment-we had run out of Dr. Pepper cans at home. But then I remembered: A couple years ago in eighth grade, Alek and I were talking about when we were going to have our very first fight. We had promised to stay best friends for eternity, and a stupid little fight wouldn't tear our friendship apart. So we made a little pact.

"So the morning after we have our very first fight, we won't say 'I'm sorry.' Because we're too close for the 'sorry's. After so many times of hearing sorry, the word practically means nothing." Alek explained.

I was sitting beside him on the couch, and I instantly knew what he meant. We just had this connection, and our thoughts just..clicked.

"So instead of saying I'm sorry, we could make a gesture that would _mean_ I'm sorry. Like..." I thought of something totally unique and odd to do.

"We could give each other a can of their favorite soda." Alek joked. But I actually liked it. My eyes brightened and I laughed.

"Can we really?" I exclaimed.

So there it was. The can of Dr. Pepper that I forgot all about, yet he remembered ever since 8th grade. I smiled and looked out my window to his house. His blinds were shut. I frowned. On the rare occasion he _was _home, he never shut his blinds. We had a giant sketching pad that we wrote each other messages on, like in the You Belong With Me music video. I quickly got dressed and ran to the market to buy a pack of Coke. I got his can of Coke and quietly snuck up to his room. His parents were out working, so he had the house to himself. I could hear him snoring softly, and I rolled my eyes. I remember when I was little, I used to think that whenever he snored, it was because he was choking on something. I would always jump on him, slap him awake and cry until finally one day my parents told me that snoring was completely normal.

I placed the Coke can his desk and hesitated. Normally I would just jump under the covers with him and go back to sleep, but now I didn't know.

"So you remembered." His voice pierced the calming silence of the morning. I gasped and my eyes flew to his bed, and he had rolled around and was now staring at me.

"No, you did. You reminded me." I smiled softly. He smirked.

"Be happy, King. I ran out to the market to buy you that stinking can of Dr. Pepper at 3 in the morning."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"But the only 24-hour market is like, an hour away."

He shrugged. I laughed and tackled him on the bed.

"You seriously are the greatest best friend I could ever ask for." I hugged his neck.

"I know, cutie. I missed you." He hugged my back. I smiled at his ridiculous nickname for me.

"But really, Alek. You really are sweet." We laid there for a moment, soaking in our friendship again.

"So..ready to catch up on our movies?" I asked suddenly. He laughed and sat up, running his hand through his hair.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies, talking, and eating. After a while we got bored and drove to the mall. In the car we sang along to our favorite song, which happened to be on.

"WHEN SHE WAS JUST A GIRL, SHE EXPECTED THE WORLD. BUT IT FLEW AWAY FROM HER REACH, AND THE BULLETS CATCH IN HER TEETH. LIFE GOES ON IT GETS SO HEAVY, THE WHEEL BREAKS THE BUTTERFLY!" We screamed out. Alek's car was a convertible, and people looked over at us oddly. But we just ignored them and laughed.

We got to the mall and walked in, and I immediately felt stares. I was used to it, though. Almost every girl stared at Alek shamelessly. After shopping for about two hours, we got tired and went out into the parking lot to drive home.

The rain was coming down in painful drops, and they pelted our heads as we sprinted to the car, having not brought our umbrellas. And I sprinted right into the whole reason my best friend and I were fighting in the first place.

Brian.

**Alek's POV**

We shopped for hours, and we ran to my car in the pouring rain. I had to catch Chloe from falling flat on her face a couple times-it was quite adorable, actually.

I slammed the trunk closed after tossing in our bags, and I heard Chloe grunt and a loud thump. I whirled around, ready to pick her up from the ground and expecting to see her soaking wet on the ground, sitting in the middle of a puddle.

But someone _else_ already caught her for me. Her wrists were secured in his hands, and they were staring at each other. I cleared my throat loudly, and Chloe looked at me and stepped back.

"Hi, Brian." She half-waved.

"Chloe." He smiled fakely. "Alek."

"Brian." I spat out. We were standing there awkwardly, staring at each other. Well, in my case, glaring. I could see Chloe looking back at me, and then up at Brian. All three of us were completely soaked now, and water droplets were dripping off the curly ends of Chloe's wet hair.

Brian and Chloe made small talk about school, while I stood there and rolled my eyes. The guy was a horrible conversationalist. Another reason why Chloe should like me better than-

Wait. What? Chloe and I are best friends. Nothing more, nothing less. I love her-she's more than a sister, even more important than any of my girlfriends that I've ever had. But I definitely didn't feel anything _romantic _towards her. Did I?

Well, that's why you're jealous of Brian, right?

Stop it. I'm _not_ jealous of Brian.

Then why do you always get so mad when they talk?

I shook my head, stopping my internal war.

"So, I was wondering if you would want to go on a date with me sometime. Maybe some coffee tomorrow afternoon?" Brian asked Chloe, rubbing the back of his head. My blood boiled, and I clenched my fists.

"She's not going. She's hanging out with me." I interjected. He looked up and glared at me.

"She can speak for herself."

Chloe whipped her head back and raised her eyebrows.

"Since when? We never made plans." She argued.

"We always hang out on weekends." I urged her to say no with my eyes. She looked at Brian again.

"That would be nice, actually. I'll go."

Brian smirked at me.

"Great. I'll see you tomorrow, then." He turned on his heel and walked into the mall, his hands in his pockets. I stood there in the rain, looking at Chloe sadly. She looked back.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked quietly.

"What am I doing?" She exclaimed. "You've dated before, and I never did anything to stop you."

"Brian isn't a _good _guy for you." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"And you think that all of those sluts you dated were good for you?" She glared. Then, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I-I'm sorry. Can we just not fight, please? I don't like it." She said, her eyes still shut. I looked back to the entrance of the mall, where Brian had disappeared into. She looked at me with her big blue eyes, and couldn't help but compare her to a little puppy, with her huge eyes and wet hair.

I nodded stiffly and gave her an extra jacket I kept in my trunk, and we got into the car. We were silent on the way home, some of yesterday's tensions back again.

I hated Brian from the moment I met him. He pretended to be this sweet guy, but I knew deep down inside he was a jerk, who played with girls' hearts.

He was destroying everything. My friendship with Chloe, Chloe's love life, which _should _be with a guy who would truly love her and love her more than he did himself.

But you know what they say.

Destroy what destroys you.

**Holy flip, you guys. Just..HOLY FLIP. You..the reviews..AOGHAWOUGHWIUGHIUH. I'm so happy. :'D I got TWENTY reviews on my first chapter. UGH. I LOVE YOU GUYS. I know that may not be a lot to some people but to me that's just..amazing. Thank you so much.[': **

**Kimberly: I absolutely love you![: You were the first reviewer, so thanks! You're so sweet.**

**TwilightFreak28: Thank you! I always have trouble coming up with original plots, so thank you so much![: **

**nn: I hate Brian for ruining everything, too. :[ And no. I'm going to make Alek and Chloe hate each other for the rest of their lives and Chloe and Brian will have babies. ...Just kidding! I shuddered at the thought of that. XD Thanks so much for reviewing! :D**

**Anon: Oooh, thanks! I'm glad my story was an exception.[; I was about to make them Mai, but I didn't really want to deal with the Order, so yea. :/ Thanks for reviewing!**

**laughingsince98: Yes, a jealous Alek is a cute Alek.[; Thank you!**

**mbj2323: OH..MY..GOD. YOU'RE AMAZING. Your review was so, so nice.[: Thank you!**

**crim5oncr0w: Awhh, thank you so much! And I'm updating! And it's only been a day? Aren't you proud of me?[; 'Cause I am..ahha. **

**Yudith88: Yea, if I had a fight with my best friend who I've known since I was little, I would break down and cry in a corner.]: Anyway, thanks for reviewing! ^_^**

**Stephanie: I'm updating right now! So, two days later! Is that good?[: I hope so.**

**Linhohbabycakes: Thank you so much! You're so sweet!**

**mystarryworld: Oh, thank you! You have a nice day, too! **

**ashley: Awhh, thanks! I know-whenever I write intense scenes like where they're arguing or fighting or something, my heart starts pounding and my hands shake a little. Is that weird? XD Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**anon: Ahaha you are seriously the sweetest thing.[: Seriously. I'm seriously like, stoked that you think this might be one of the best stories-because there are so many amazing 9LOCK stories out there already. Thank you for reviewing!**

**nn: Did you review twice? O_O Or is there two nn's or something? Whatever. Thank you![:**

**XxjoejonasfanxX: Oh my gosh, thank you![: I wish I had a friend since birth, too. :/ But my best friend is a boy and I've know him since kindergarten...does that count? Ahaha. Thank you for reviewing! **

**gator19: YOU ARE AMAZING! Thanks for reviewing :'D**

**ImAPrettyLittleLiarAria: Oooh, I love PLL.[: Best show ever. I think Brian's a creeper, too. :/ I mean, I bet he stalked Chloe on the way home from school and that's how he knew that was her house. **shakes head disapprovingly** And we all love a jealous Alek, don't we?[; Thanks for reviewing! **

**sapphyre-elizabeth: Your review left me with a ridiculous grin on my face for the rest of my DAY. [: I love you.**

**laurensyd96: Thank you so much!**

**Kat: Oh my gosh, thank you! You're so sweet :'D**

**Thanks for reading the next chapter! If you can, do you think you guys could be amazing and review again? That would mean the world to me. Thanks guys! Love you.**


	3. Hidden Rooftops

_But you know what they say._

_Destroy what destroys you._

**Chloe's POV**

We got home and stripped out of our soaked clothes, changing into comfy pajamas. We didn't do anything productive the rest of the day-the most exciting thing either of us did was shower.

Alek and I were in bed that night – and yes, we sleep together. And not in _that _way. In a brother-sister way-and I was laying on my back staring at the blank ceiling.

"Are you really going out? With Brian?" Alek asked, an arm slung over his eyes.

"Yea, I am. I don't get why you're so against it." I stated defensively.

"I've said why I didn't like him a million times now. Maybe if you listened to me a little more then you would realize that I'm right." He snapped.

Silence.

And then I couldn't help it. My lip quivered and I turned around, not facing him anymore. It's been what? Two days and our 16 year friendship is already crushed into smecks of dirt. I wanted to go back to the simple days where we just got along and did things best friends did-and not fight every two seconds. Tears streamed out of my eyes and onto the pillow, making quiet _thumps_ when they landed. I was kind of hoping Alek wouldn't notice-except we were in the same bed and he would feel me shaking.

"Hey." He turned me around, and I didn't resist. His eyes widened and I heard him take a quivering breath. When we were little, whenever the other cried, we would cry, too, before we even knew why the other was crying. "I'm so sorry. I didn't-Chloe. Don't cry, cutie. I'm sorry."

He murmured comforting things into my ear and he pulled me into his warm embrace, rocking me back and forth.

I got those retarded gasp-hiccup things you get after you cry for a while, and he gently patted my back so they would go away.

"So-rry." I gasp-hiccuped. My hands went up to rub my stinging eyes and he continued rubbing my back, trying to get me to breathe correctly. "I just don't like it-when we-fight."

"I know. I'm sorry too. I really, truly am Chloe. Now stop talking before you choke on air."

I fiddled with the end of his shirt, my fingers pinching the fabric gently, my head still tucked under his chin.

"I won't go if you really don't want me to." I suggested quietly**. **His patting and rubbing stopped, and I didn't dare peek up to see the expression on his face. After about a minute, his hands started up again. My hiccups were mostly gone, a few escaping my lips once in a while.

He sighed.

"No. I don't want to stop you from something that I really didn't have a say in in the first place. I realize that this is how you must have felt when I dated all of those girls-I guess I'm just not used to you having a boyfriend. But Chloe." He pulled my chin up and looked deep into my eyes. "You know that all of those girls-any of the girls I will ever meet-you, cutie, are going to be more important than any of them. If you guys were both dying and needed a kidney or something, I would give mine to you. I just want you to know that they didn't mean half as much to me as you."

I smiled gently.

"And you know that Brian won't ever take the place you have in my heart. We'll always have a special place for each other, and it won't ever change." I reassured him.

"So..go on the date tomorrow. My opinions shouldn't effect your decisions." Alek gave in. But now that the fighting was over-now that my stubborn adrenaline died down-I realized that the only reason I wanted to go so bad was because Alek told me I couldn't.

When someone tells me I can't, I'll turn around and say, "Watch me."

Did I really make us fight for nothing? No. Maybe I really did have feelings for Brian.

"Okay. Thank you." I pecked him on the cheek, and he kissed the top of my head.

"Nothing to thank me for, cutie. Now let's go to sleep.." He rubbed his eyes. And we did just that. I was still tucked under his arm, and finally-everything started to seem right with the world again.

Cue the sunlight. The birds chirping. The smell of fresh morning air.

And..wait for it...

"Chloe!" A British voice called. I smiled.

So it wasn't a dream.

Alek was always an early riser, no matter how late he slept. I could smell breakfast cooking on the stove downstairs, and I heard him run up the stairs and burst into my room, going to jump on the bed. I shot my leg out and tripped him, and he fell.

"_Oof!"_ He landed on top of me, arms on either side of my body, saving me from his weight. He smelled like bacon and..a smell that could only be described as _Alek._ We stared at each other, and normally he would have smirked and cracked a perverted joke.

But this was just..weird.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's okay." He said back, sitting up. What was that feeling I was getting in my stomach? It was...different. I shrugged it off, and he did too. We skipped downstairs and ate together.

**Alek's POV**

I can't believe I made her _cry _last night. It was the most miserable thing I have ever seen. I practically started crying, too.

I sighed and flipped the stove off, dumping the contents onto a giant plate and setting it on the table.

"Chloe!" I called, running up the stairs. I started jumping up and down on the bed-carefully, though, so I couldn't step on her. She purposefully tripped me and I landed with an Oof!

Right on top of her. She looked up at her with her bright blue eyes, and I looked back. I couldn't help but appreciate the delicate little freckles on the bridge of her nose, and the way her eyelashes were casting shadows upon her cheeks.

"Sorry." She said finally.

"It's okay." I said, sitting up. This was different. I was feeling something towards Chloe that..that was a little different than the feelings I usually had. It didn't exactly scream _best friend_ to me. I shrugged it off and we went downstairs to eat.

"I have to go get ready for my date with Brian." Chloe said, chewing the last piece of bacon. My heart sunk.

"Oh. Well, alright. I'll clean up. Go make yourself pretty." I tried to tease her. She rolled her eyes and went upstairs, and I heard the shower go off. I washed the dishes and flopped onto her couch, and spent the next few hours watching TV.

When she finally came down, I had to admit she looked gorgeous. Her curly hair was still slightly damp, but it already flowed softly down her back. She had on a grey floral summer dress, which reached to about the top of her knees. She also had on long necklaces and sandals, and a long bag.

"I'm going to..go now." Chloe stepped forward to the door, jacket in hand.

"Right. Um..have fun. Call me if you need a ride, or something." I looked at her, silently willing for her to stay with me.

But she just nodded, and, with one last look back, walked out the door. I stared at it in denial for a couple seconds-I was so sure that she would come running back and say she didn't want to go on the date-she was just being stubborn when I told her she couldn't.

But she didn't.

So I did the next best thing.

I followed her.

TIME SKIP

They were sitting at a table outside, and there was a convenient little roof on top of their table that was hidden away in a tree's shadow. I could hear everything they were saying, and could see if Chloe got up and left without her seeing me. Let's just hope it didn't break.

"Hi!" Brian greeted Chloe, and Chloe said a 'hello' back.

"I got you a Chocolate frappe. I didn't know what you wanted, so.." Brian trailed off.

Ha. Chloe hated chocolate frappes. She liked peppermint mocha's.

"Thank you!" Chloe said fakely. I heard her chair scrape against the pavement as she sat down. They made small talk about the crazy rain yesterday, and about school. I rolled my eyes.

Seriously. School and weather? Could this get any more stereotypical small-talk awkward first date? If I strained my ears, I heard tiny little pops -Chloe was cracking her knuckles. Something she did when she was extremely awkward. I almost started laughing-I actually feel bad for Brian.

They made awkward small-talk for the rest of the date, until they started playing twenty questions. They told each other about their lives and it was absolutely disgusting.

I wanted to go down there and take Chloe away-we didn't even need to play twenty questions-we knew everything about each other. Chloe's awkward voice vanished, and there was the comfortable voice she used around me, Amy and Paul. Her knuckle-cracking stopped, and I heaved a great big sigh.

And all along I thought the date would be a disaster. Filled with awkward moments, disgusting coffee, and stupid comments about the weather.

Suddenly, Chloe's phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered. A couple seconds of silence passed.

"What?" She screeched, jumping up from her seat.

"What's wrong?" I heard Brian ask in the background. But as soon as I heard her scream, I sat up from my little roof.

"I'll be right there." She said. "Brian, I-I have to go. My mom-she was in a car accident." And with that, I saw her blonde hair take off down the street, phone still in hand.

Five seconds later, I got a text.

_I need you. _

**laughingsince98: Awh, thank you! My best friend and I actually do the whole soda thing, so yea.[: I thought I would incorporate it into my story, ahha. Thank you for reviewing!**

**mbj2323: OH MY GOSH AHAHAHAH you're funny.[: So is your mum, ahha. Thank you so much! You're so sweet. **

**Anon: Awwwh you're so sweet! Ahahah the Mai stuff _does_ make in complicated! I have another story in the 9LOCK section with the Mai, and it's super hard to write all of the fight scenes and stuff, since I've never hurt a fly. XD Thank you for reviewing! They really encourage me to update.**

**XxjoejonasfanxX: AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH you know what's weird? I practically stepped in a puddle and died today. ._. Like, no joke. It was raining and I was walking with my best friend and I totally like, slipped in the puddle and landed on my butt. Yea-it was not fun. I wish that was Brian instead of me. Rain is my favorite weather![: It makes everything super pretty and dramatic. Ahahaha thank you so much! I do the soda thing with my best friend, so it was all his idea. I'm not that creative. ]: Team Alek all the way! I loved your review and you're super amazing. Thank you so much! **

**gator19: I LOVE YOU! Thank you so much![: And, YEA! THAT'S RIGHT, BRIAN. NO ONE LIKES YOU. Ahaah thank you for reviewing! **

**Sarah: No, there's no Mai in this.[: I kind of just wanted to make a super sweet Chalek story with no stress about the Order and stuff like that. Thank you for reviewing!**

**Stephanie: Omg I love you. Thank you so much.[: And yes, Chloe was totally jealous. Or else-why would she call them sluts? Ahahah ohk. Thanks for reviewing! :D **

**crim5on cr0w: Yaay! I'm updating again-two days later! The reviews make me so happy I can't just not update.[: Thank you so much for reviewing! **

**ashley: I love their friendship too. It's super sweet and caring and ugh.[: Thank you so much! **

**Blackwidow927: Love you![; Thanks for reviewing! **

**misskenzi98: Awh, I'm glad you gave my story a chance![: Thank you.**

**anonymous: Oh my gosh, thank you.[: **

**Evalina: Such a pretty name! Is it your real name? And I can't believe it's one of your favorites-thank you so much! :D AHAHA I just had an image of Brian walking down the sidewalk, and then a giant hole appears and he falls in and it closes up and Chloe and Alek get married and have adorable little blonde curly haired British children. XD And thanks! I didn't think of the soda things, though-my best friend actually made that up when we were little. I should've given him credits or something, but no one knows who he is, so..blehh. And I'm sorry about your best friend.]: It's really good, though. If my best friend had to go away every weekend I'm not sure if our friendship would last. And it's fine-I really love long reviews! XD Anyways, thank you for reading my story and reviewing and stuff! It really means a lot.[:**

**ImAPrettyLittleLiarAria: I believe in monsters.]: Not one under my bed, though. In my closet. LOL just kidding. They're all outside.[; I don't write PLL fanfictions-I'm not very good at the whole mystery thing. XD Thank you so much for reviewing! **

**ScarletSometimes: I PM'ed you, but for anyone else who was wondering this: In the TV shows, Alek grew up in England and was abandoned by his mum and dad and Valentina adopted him, so that's why he has a British accent. I just kept that in my story except the reason for them abandoning him isn't because he was Mai-it was just because they didn't want him anymore. **

**Kalirising214: Thank you so much![: **

**SassyGirlz14: Oh my goodness, thank. You. I'm so happy I gave you inspiration for writing-normally I just think of my stories as one of those only semi-good ones that no one actually remembers after they read the new chapter update, not one of the stories that stand out in your mind and you can actually remember it and stuff. Thank you so much.[: **

**ScissorLuv21: Well, thank you! It means a lot that you did something you absolutely hate just for me.[: Thanks for reviewing! **

**miakingme18: Yes, I am going to write lots more chapters! :D Thanks for reviewing! **

**In 3 with TNLOCK: AWH thank you so much![: And you are really welcome. **

**So thank you to everyone who reviewed on Chapter 2! Do you think you guys can be amazing again and review on Chapter 3? :D That would just mean the world to me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **


	4. I'm Hungry

_I need you._

**Alek's POV**

"Bloody hell," I muttered. I needed to beat Chloe home so she wouldn't know I followed her on her 'date'. I looked down the street-she wasn't even in sight anymore. I sighed and hopped down, earning strange looks. Luckily Brian wasn't there anymore.

I smirked. She went to _me_ for help, when she could have just asked Brian for a ride to the hospital. I took the shortcut to her house, which was cutting through gardens and climbing fences. I wrenched her backdoor open, and I launched myself to her front door, looking out her peephole. She was running up her street, and I quickly threw myself onto the couch and turned on the TV, trying to calm my breathing.

She burst through the door, her face scared.

"Alek!" she cried.

"What do you need me for?" I said, trying to play innocent. She looked at the TV screen.

"What are you watching?" She muttered. I looked at the TV – Hannah Montana was on. Whoops. I never really checked what was playing on the channel I was on.

"Nothing." I clicked it off, embarrassed. She rolled her eyes.

"Anyways. My mom's in the _hospital. _She was in a car crash, or something." Tears came up in her eyes-I knew her biggest fear was losing her mom. After her dad left them, not even keeping in contact, her mom was all she had.

"Oh, Chloe." I pulled her into a hug, and she squeezed me tight. "Do you want to go see her?"

She nodded, and we went outside and got into my car.

"Did the doctors say if she'll live or not?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I kind of hung up on them before they could say anything more." She mumbled. I chuckled. Typical Chloe. We rushed to the hospital, and we walked to the front desk.

"Hi. My mum's in here and I would like to visit her." Chloe whispered, eyes downcast.

"Excuse me, sweetie?"

Chloe repeated herself, even more quiet now. I held Chloe's hand.

"Her mum's in the hospital and we would like to see her." I stated. The nurse looked at Chloe sympathetically, and I saw Chloe's mouth twitch angrily.

Chloe hated everything and anything that had to do with sympathy-she didn't need it and she didn't like it. I remember she went into a rage when her dad disappeared and everyone in school kept asking her if she was okay.

It was during science-she suddenly jumped up from her seat and screamed, "_Yes, I am __**okay.**_I don't need your apologies and I don't _want_ your sympathy! We have probably never talked before this, and I really don't want to start now." She had snapped at the class. We stared at her, stunned-even the teacher. I don't think anyone ever said an 'I'm sorry' to her ever again.

She kept staring at the floor the whole time we went up. The air smelled like sickness and hand-sanitizer, and it made me want to take a shower.

The nurse had said Room 518, and when we got there Chloe squeezed my hand.

"I'm scared." She whispered.

"Me too." I said quietly. Meredith was like an aunt to me – she took care of me, and treated me like family. I swallowed and peeked inside-and I cringed.

Meredith was on the bed, looking deathly pale. There were dozens of machines and tubes and needles sticking out of her, and it didn't look like she was awake. I looked at the clipboard near her bed and say the word 'COMA.' written in red letters. Oh no. I didn't want Chloe to see her like this. A strong wave of protectiveness washed over me and I abruptly closed the door.

"How is she?" Chloe asked, reaching to open the door again.

"Fine! She's fine." I chuckled nervously, taking her other hand and pulling her away from the door. "I'm hungry. Come to the cafeteria with me?" I said, already dragging her to the elevator.

"But...what about my mom?" She asked, looking back.

"We'll visit her later." I shrugged, quickly closing the elevator doors. We went down to the cafeteria, and I bought so much food Chloe laughed.

"Seriously-why didn't you just eat at home?" We sat down with four trays of food, and I started eating very slowly.

"You didn't have good food at your house." I shrugged.

She raised her eyebrow at me. "We had spaghetti. We had sweet rolls. We had candy. Your three favorite foods."

"I wanted something...different." I ate my fries one at a time, biting each one in half.

She sighed and tapped her foot while I ate so slowly I was starting to get annoyed at myself. Forty-five minutes passed, and I was only done with two of the trays. Chloe started eating to speed things up, but she got full after half of a burger and some fries.

An hour passed, and she groaned.

"You know what? I think you've had enough food." And before I could stop her, she took my trays and dumped them into the trash, pulling us back to the elevators.

"Hey!" I protested. "I wasn't done."

"Don't wanna get fat, do you?" She teased, tapping her fingers under my chin. I rolled my eyes. I grabbed her hand and held it again, walking as slow as I could back to the elevator.

"Alek, seriously. I want to see my mum!" She started looking angry. I looked at her cautiously.

"Chloe." I sighed. "I don't think that...I don't think that she's going to wake up anytime soon."

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"She...she's in a coma." I said, trying to keep my face emotionless. I would've had to break it to her sometime.

Her eyes glazed over and I felt her hand go limp in mine, no longer holding it anymore. I took her other hand in mine and looked at her, trying to see her reaction.

"Chloe? Did you hear what I just said?" She didn't say anything.

"Do you still want to go see her?" I asked quietly. She nodded. I led her into the elevator, and we rode silently up.

We were standing outside her mom's hospital room, and she was leaning against the wall taking deep breaths.

"We can come back another time." I offered. "If you're not ready to see her like this, you don't have to.."

"No. I want to see her." Chloe's determined face came on, and I knew there was nothing I could do to change her decision.

"Anytime soon?" I joked, glancing at Chloe's fist on the door handle, but never opening the door. She glared at me.

"Not the time."

I bit my lip to prevent my smile and looked down.

"Let's go." She said. She pushed herself off the wall and looked back at me. I nodded at her. She slowly twisted the door and it creaked open. I came up to her side and we stood there silently in the doorway, the door still blocking Meredith from Chloe's sight.

I pushed the door all the way open and Chloe cringed, looking down quickly. I put my hand on her back and led her to her mother's bedside. I looked up to see a nurse looking at us sympathetically.

Chloe's eyes hesitantly made their way off the floor, and they landed on her mom's face. She swallowed thickly and her face threw off this vulnerability that made me want to hug her tight.

"Mom?" Chloe said. Meredith didn't move. "Mommy." Chloe's eyebrows crinkled and her lip quivered.

A doctor came in, and, again, a sympathetic look was directed towards us. I can tell why Chloe didn't like them now.

"When is she going to wake up?" I asked him. He checked the clipboard.

"I'm afraid we're not sure. Could be tomorrow, could be a couple of years, could be ne-"

"Thank you." I cut him off, glaring. I wanted to cry, too. The thought of Meredith never waking up...

Chloe was crying and talking to Meredith, telling her mom how it was going to be okay and that she would wake up soon. It seemed like she was talking to herself more than to her mom.

After about half an hour of this, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Let's go, cutie. Visiting hours are almost over." I said. She nodded and stood up, wiping her eyes.

"Bye, mommy." She whispered. She kissed her mom's cheek and linked arms with me.

We got home and she collapsed onto the couch with a big sigh. I came over and rubbed her back, just like last night.

"What a fun day this was." Chloe smiled dryly. I laughed.

"Had the time of my life." I joked back.

Her smile disappeared and she leaned into my shoulder.

"She'll wake up, Chloe. Don't worry." I reassured her.

"The doctor said she might never." She whispered. I didn't have anything to say to that. Suddenly, the phone rang. I got the phone and brought it over to Chloe, and she clicked the Answer button.

"Hello?"

I saw her emotions change from confusion, to happiness, to anger, to shock.

"Dad...?" she whispered.

**crim5on crow: Awwhh, thank you so much![: And your fanfiction is amazing-honestly. **

**mbj2323: BAHAHAHA yea-Alek's on top of a roof spying on their date. That's totally normal. XD Thank you so much for reviewing.[: **

**ScissorLuv21: Awh, I'm sorry about the virus.]: I hope your computer gets better soon, ahha. And I'm still in 8th grade, so I don't have _that_ much homework. I'm lucky. Thanks so much for reviewing![: **

**gator19: AWWWH I LOVE YOU![: Thank you so much! **

**TwilightFreak28: Thanks so much! :'D**

**3nlock: Awh-I'm trying to update at least once a week, and so far it's been going pretty good for me![: I've been getting so many kind reviews I just can't not update. Thanks so much for you review!**

**ImAPrettyLittleLiarAria: AHAHAHHA you're funny. :'D When my mother is on a rage, there is like, _no _stopping her. It's not even funny-I'm tempted to lock myself in a closet until she calms down. But I guess it's like that with all moms, right? [; And don't die! I'm writing, I'm writing![: **

**A: Thanks so much! :D I was kinda iffy about it because-obviously-I'm not a guy, so yea. I just tried to tone down the girly-ness a little. XD Thanks for reviewing! **

**HRkay3396: AOUHAUGHUGH really? Thanks so much! [: That seriously means _so _much to me-you don't even know. You are the sweetest person ever. Thank you, really. [: **

**Blackwidow927: [: Thanks so much! **

**Stephanie: I love how Alek followed Chloe, too. If I were in Alek's footsteps I probably would've followed her, ahaha. XD I don't think I would've been able to get on the roof, though. :/ So I probably would've hovered awkwardly near them behind a tree or something. And you definitely needed to know that... thanks so much for reviewing![: **

**Lj: Thank you so, so much![: And it was kind of hard doing Alek's point of view...I'm a very girly person, so I was like, describing everybody's outfit and makeup and stuff, and I was like, '...oh wait. I don't think a guy would notice this stuff..' and I had to delete a lot of it. XD Thank you for reviewing! **

**ash: You are so sweet![: Thank you so much! **

**allycat12e: Oh! I was going to explain in a couple chapters-Jasmine is still going to be Alek's cousin-they just don't live together. And Valentina is going to be Alek's mom-they'll probably be in the next chapter.[: AHAH I'm glad my story isn't cookie cutter shit. A lot of people have been saying that they weren't sure at first since it was non mai, and so thank you so much for giving my story a chance![: My best friend calls me cutie-I love it. ^_^ Anyways-thank you so much for reviewing! I seriously lit up like a Christmas tree when I read your review.[: **

**nn: Yea![: I just didn't want them to immediately fall in love, or else the story would be over too soon! And that wouldn't be good. D: Thanks for reviewing![: **

**Kitkatluver123: Thank you.[: If you do find something I need improvement on, though, please tell me! I won't take it the wrong way, or anything like that. Thanks so much for reviewing! **

**Anon: Awh, thank you so much![: **

**XxAlekis so minexX: Love _you_.[; AHAH that was creepy. ...Thanks for reviewing! **

**XxjoejonasfanxX: Yea, they 'sleep together.' ;D A-wink-wink. LOL. I love that-sparks are flying. It just sounds kind of like, magical, don'tcha think? XD AHAHAHA if Chloe dumped her drink on Brian's head-that would be the funniest thing ever. XD And yea, it was cute how she went to Alek even though Brian was right there! I was kind of implying that, and so many of you guys got the hint, and I was like, YESSS. :D I love how you keep checking if I update-seriously. Thank you so much![': Your review made me smile so big my cheeks hurt. Thank you! **

**ohhlalaachickaa: No, I don't mind if you use it.[: Thank you so much for reviewing! :D **

**randomreader19: :O You're writing a book? Like, a real book that's going to be published? That's amazing! I want to write a book so badly! Thank you so, so much![: **

**Evalina: Lucky! Your name is gorgeous.[: I have a normal name-Jessica. But my middle name is Embyr, so I think that makes up for it. XD Reina's a really pretty name, too![: SERIOUSLY? I POP MY KNUCLES IN A NERVOUS SITUATION TOO! Ahahaah a lot of the things Chloe does I do, so yea.[: AHAHA thanks-I imagine a lot of people falling into holes, actually. :/ It's not very healthy. Like in school whenever someone says something rude or something, in my head I'm all like, "GO FALL IN A HOLE AND DIE." But I don't say it aloud 'cause that would be rude. ]: And yea-my best friend is really creative.[: I love him. And I feel the same way-my parents actually barely know anything about me, though. I'm not exactly close to them. :/ Anyway-thank you SO much for your extremely long review-I really, really loved it. Really.[: **

**Mik The Chibi Lover: Updating.[: **

**Okay! You guys. You guys. You guys. It's-I can't even like, comprehend it in my mind. I HAVE 64 REVIEWS ON THIS STORY! THIS IS LIKE, CRAZINESS! I can't even-ugh.[: I love you guys. Seriously. Best readers ever~. And everyone who alerted and favorited-thank you guys too![: I hope you liked this chapter, and if you can be amazing again, review?[: **


	5. Dandelions, Wishes, and Lanterns

_I saw her emotions change from confusion, to happiness, to anger, to shock._

_"Dad...?" she whispered._

**APOV**

I heard the dial tone go off, and realized her dad hung up on her.

"Chloe." I said, stepping forward to catch her as she dropped the phone and her knees buckled. It collided with the floor and slid away from us.

"How can he be back? Isn't he supposed to be missing? I thought he was dead. I don't know what's going on...?" Chloe wasn't breathing normally. I shushed her and gave her a glass of water.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Something about how Mom was in the hospital and..." Chloe shook her head, trying to think properly. She was shaking slightly, and I made sure she didn't spill her water.

"My life is so miserable right now." Chloe complained. I couldn't help but agree, setting the glass of water down on the table and making Chloe lay back on the couch.

"Well...want me to make it better?" I suggested. Oh god, what am I doing?

"How?" Chloe's face brightened up, hope shining through her eyes.

I actually didn't have a plan. What? What do I say?

"I'll take you on a date tomorrow. It'll cheer you up." I smile, already planning the events of the day in my head.

Chloe looked confused.

"A friendly date." I confirmed.

"Sounds like a plan..." Chloe said, drifting off. She was laying on the couch, where I laid her down. I carried her up to her room and kissed her forehead, unable to ignore the feeling I got in my stomach. In my heart.

Bloody hell...what was this girl doing to me?

**CPOV**

I looked at myself in the mirror. Floral tank top, long heart pendant, army jacket, skinny jeans, and combat boots. My long curls tumbling down my back and around my shoulders, framing my face.

I heard a knock on my door, and my smile grew impossibly huge. My heart fluttered a bit, but out of excitement.

This was good for me. In the shower I thought about my mom again and had a huge breakdown.

I skipped to the door and opened it to see Alek grinning at me, holding a giant bundle of dandelions.

I had already forgotten all about my dad. I shoved it to the back of my mind, not wanting to think about it.

How was it possible for Alek to make me smile when I felt like crying?

I laughed in delight. His free hand was cupped over them, shielding them from the slight breeze. Dandelions were my favorite thing in the world. When we were little, Alek and I loved collecting them. We would spend hours in this one field – that's dead now – blowing them and making wishes.

"Ready to go, cutie?" He reached for my hand. I gladly took it, and we stopped and sat down on my driveway.

"Part one." Alek looked solemnly into my eyes, handing half the dandelions to me. Had had collected twenty, so I had ten. "Make wishes."

So we sat there on my driveway, thinking of wishes and then gently blowing the delicate white puffs away, watching them dance away with the wind.

We made wishes until we only had one left.

We picked up our last dandelion and looked at each other.

"Last wish. Make it count." I stated. He nodded. We thought for a second.

_I wish Alek will stay in my life forever, no matter what. Nothing can pull us apart._

I sucked in a breath, and blew. All of the little white puffs came off in one blow. I smiled as they disappeared into the sky. Alek had blown his the exact same time I did.

I wonder what he wished for. But if he told me, his wish wouldn't come true.

"Where did you get those?" I exclaimed, fingering the remaining bald stems in my hand.

"It's a secret." Alek smirked and winked at me. I stuck my tongue out. He helped me up and we left the green stems on my driveway, making our way to his car.

"Part two." Alek said after fifteen minutes of driving, pulling up in a park parking lot. "Painting."

"Oh my god!" I threw my head back and laughed happily. This part of the date was based off of a childhood memory. We had a picture of us covered in paint, trying to paint this ridiculously ugly canvas. I don't even know what it was we were trying to paint.

He got out and opened my door for me. He took my hand and we strolled into the middle of a large, flat field. Nobody else was around, and there, set in front of me, was a gigantic roll of paper, water, paintbrushes, and paint.

"This roll of paper is like, 40 feet long if we unroll it all the way." Alek pointed at it, smiling.

"Ready?" I smiled, taking off my jacket and tying my hair up, getting on my knees and picking up a paintbrush.

"Oh, yea." Alek took off his jacket, too. We jokingly put on our serious faces.

"Prepare for battle." Alek shouted.

"Go!" I shrieked. We laughed, squirting paint all over the paper, colors splattering onto the grass. We took our brushes and just randomly stroked everywhere, making colorful streaks. After a while, our brushes got too small for our liking. We tossed them aside and started using our hands, running them over the canvas and mixing the colors together, forming gorgeous shades of coral, violet, aquamarine, and taupe. The cool paint squished between my fingers and painted my fingernails.

You would think all the colors would blend together and make a disgusting brown, but Alek and I made sure to mix colors with our fingers first before streaking them everywhere.

After about half an hour, I guess Alek got bored of painting. I saw him look at his paint-covered hands, up at me, and then back at his hands. An evil smile appeared on his face.

I realized too late.

"No!" I screeched as he smeared paint all over my right cheek. I knelt there, mouth open in shock as Alek fell back in laughter.

"Oh, you asked for it." I shouted. I quickly squirted a dark blue on my hands and rubbed them together like lotion. I quickly sprinted after Alek, who had started running away, and hopped on his back, painting his neck and jaw and the bottom half of his face. His eyes and mouth were squeezed shut, trying not to get paint inside his body. I got off him and laughed hysterically.

He turned around slowly and revealed his blue face to me, glaring. We sprinted towards the bottles of paint, I got three and he got four.

I don't know what happened, but we got in a full-out paint war. By the end, my hair had at least eight different colors in it, and we looked like statues that rainbow-pooping birds loved to sit on.

We tried to spare each others' clothes, and we had taken off our shoes. My pants had a few paint splatters on them, as did my shirt. I wasn't as worried about my shirt, though, because the paint blended in with the flowers.

I couldn't say the same for Alek's white T-shirt, though...

He should have known.

He was the one who set up this date, after all.

Date? Was this a date? A 'friendly date', as he had said. But I couldn't help but notice the way he made me feel. He was my best friend.

I couldn't fall in love with him. That's crazy.

I've never even thought about falling in love with him until now.

What's wrong with me? We were best friends, and I didn't want to do anything to ruin that.

We were laying on our backs looking at the cloudless, blue sky now, panting and drinking water. I was all sweaty, strands of hair sticking to my forehead.

"Up you go. We still have part three to get to." Alek sat up, pulling me up. We quickly packed up the paints and the giant roll of paper, grabbed our jackets and shoes and made our way to the car.

Alek found an extra set of clothes in his trunk, and I pouted.

"No fair."

"I didn't start the paint war." He shrugged.

I stared at him in disbelief. "Yes you did!" I laughed.

He thought back. "...Oh yea."

I snorted and rolled my eyes, tossing the paintbrushes in his trunk. We had used a water bottle and some paper towels to wipe the paint off of our arms and face, and save for the streaks of color in my hair, I was mostly clean. I slipped on my combat boots and tossed the jacket in the backseat of his car.

While he was driving to our 'part three', I stared out the window, smiling at the sky. This day was one of the most perfect days in the universe, and it wasn't even half over yet. I was giddy. I was high on laughter and excitement, and I was loving every minute of it.

We listened to the radio and talked, smiles never once leaving our faces.

"Part three." Alek pulled up to an abandoned trail. "The creek."

I was confused.

"What?" I asked, looking out the window.

Everyone stopped using this trail after a bad storm, and all of the plants had been uprooted and trees had fallen.

"Just trust me, Chloe. It'll be fun." He smiled encouragingly.

We got out and I couldn't help but think of that little flutter my heart kept doing. The butterflies attacking my stomach every time Alek and I touched. The flush in my cheeks that never seemed to go away whenever I'm with him. How I've never been more happy in my life.

That's how best friends make each other feel, right? Complete and happy?

I love him.

In a best friend way.

And not in any other way.

I think.

We walked down a trail, and then Alek swerved and made a sharp right, walking in-between two bushes. He held the branches out for me, so they didn't smack into my face when he let go.

"You're not leading me into some sort of Narnia, are you?" I joked.

He laughed. "Better."

And, hidden behind the large amounts of plants, was a gorgeous creek. There were pebbles and sand and fallen trees and plants growing all around it. Vines attacked the trunks of trees, flowers blooming all over them, adding splashes of color. The sand was soft and smooth, with pebbles scattered all around on it. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed, running down to the edge of the running water. A giant tree had collapsed and fared as a bridge across. There were also stepping stones that someone had built out of rocks they had dug out of the ground. I could see tiny little fish in the water, and tall trees cast a giant covering over the creek. All I could see when I looked up was a huge canopy of green, sunlight peeking through the leaves.

"This...is...amazing!" I threw my arms around Alek's neck. He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist, burying his face into my curls.

"I knew you would like it." He pulled back and smirked at me. I didn't even have the will to roll my eyes. I was so happy.

A little too happy – it felt like my heart was going to burst. I quickly hopped on the tree-bridge and walked across the creek to a tiny little part of high land in the middle of it, creating a little island. Alek walked behind me the whole time, his hand on my shoulder, making sure I didn't slip and fall in. We sat side-by-side on the little island, skipping rocks.

Well, he was skipping rocks.

I was chucking rocks in pathetically and watched as his skimmed across the water while mine splashed into it, sinking.

"How do you do that?" I asked, frustrated after my 5th rock sprayed us both with cold water.

"You don't toss it in. You kind of...flick your wrist. Like this." He came up behind me, and grabbed my wrist. Again with my fluttering heart. Cue the butterflies.

What's wrong with me? I took a deep breath in, and his scent made me head swim. He smelled amazing – probably his aftershave.

"You also have to pick a flat, light rock. Like this one." He picked one up and positioned it in my hand. His British accent was making me a little dizzy. "You bring it back to about here...and then flick your wrist like _this_." He quickly flicked my hand forward, making me let go of the rock.

It flew onto the water and skipped three times.

"Oh my gosh! That was amazing! I wanna do it again!" I said, already looking for a new rock. He chuckled.

"You're welcome." He stuck his tongue out at me. I stuck mine right back out. I got a rock and tried skipping it on my own. It didn't work. Alek laughed at me.

I pouted.

"Stupid rocks...YOU DON'T DESERVE TO SKIP." I shouted at the rocks we were sitting on.

"You deserve to skip!" Alek called after the rock he had just thrown.

"It really didn't." I grouched.

"Don't be mad because the rocks liked me better than you." Alek teased.

"They did too like me!"

"Then why wouldn't they skip for you?" He retorted.

"Because you're a rock-controlling freak!" I shouted.

"Chloe?"

"Yea?"

"We're arguing over rocks."

"I know." I nodded.

We looked at each other, pretending to be ashamed. Then we burst into laughter, our voices echoing off the trees. It was around evening now, and the sky was a pretty shade of pink.

"Time for part four!" Alek said.

"I like it here, though." I looked around, thinking of all of the places we haven't explored yet. I wanted to go into the trees to see what lie there. I wanted to swim in the creek.

"We can come back anytime." He smiled. I nodded furiously and we made our way across the water, using the stepping stones this time. I shyly looked down and took his hand in mine.

I saw him smile and look down, too. We stroll back to the car, the setting sun making the trees look black.

"Are you hungry?" He asks.

I shrug. "So-so."

I'm starving.

"Liar. You're starving." Alek glared at me.

Should've known better than to lie to your best friend. I chuckled and shrugged.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. He nodded.

"See? One of us can tell the truth here." He teased me.

"I tell the truth _all _the time!" I defended, pouting.

"Whatever you say, cutie."

"Part four: Dinner." Alek smiles. We go into a gorgeous restaurant, and I gasp in awe when we step inside. The ceiling is strung with hanging lanterns, tiny candles lit up in each of them, causing colors and warm light to dance around the room.

"Alek Petrov. Reservation for two." Alek told the woman at the desk. She nodded and led us into a little booth. In front of the booth was a long string of lanterns about five inches apart from each other, all connected to one string. They were the only string of lanterns that almost touch the ground. There were a row of those long strings of lanterns, which were in front of our booth, creating a sort of door.

There was soft music playing in the background, and I recognized the song 'A Twist In My Story' by Secondhand Serenade. The lanterns swayed back and forth from the movement of the waiters making their way through the maze of tables, causing the colors to spin around the room slowly as the string the lanterns were hanging off of wound and unwound itself.

The feelings in my heart for Alek just grew and intensified, making my throat close up.

"Alek. This is...amazing. I'm not kidding. I can hardly breathe," I laughed, breathless, keeping my eyes on the gorgeous lanterns.

He smirked. "Once in a lifetime chance. They were hung up on special request." He winked.

My mouth dropped open.

"_You _asked them to do this?"

He nodded.

"This is the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me." Chloe smiled. "Thank you, Alek. Really."

"You're welcome, cutie."

We both ordered pasta and we ate, talking. I reached out to touch one of the long lanterns, since the other ones were way up high.

It swayed on its string gently, and I loved it.

"I want these for my room!" I exclaimed, sighing.

"Do you want your house to burn down?" Alek laughed.

"Good point."

As we were eating, I kept seeing an odd figure lurking around the restaurant, and I could feel eyes on me. My eyebrows crinkled, following the shadow.

I mentioned it to Alek, but he quickly shrugged it off, saying it was nothing.

We finished our dinner, and a man quickly came up to Alek.

"Here you are, sir." The man nodded gruffly, thrusting something into Alek's hands.

"Thank you so much." Alek threw a winning smile up at the man and handed him a wad of cash. The man nodded in thanks and walked out the restaurant.

I blinked.

"What's that..." I motioned to the object in Alek's hand.

He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed.

"Well you remember when we were thirteen, and you were obsessed with photography?"

"Uh huh?"

"And you said that candid pictures were the best, because you didn't look forced or anything?"

"Yea..." I smiled, hoping I knew where this was going.

"Well I hired that man to take candid pictures of us, so it wouldn't look forced. Yes, a little stalker-y, but I wanted to remember this day." Alek looked up at me, hoping I wouldn't be mad.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." He confirmed.

"That is _amazing! _And I know that that is probably the 700th time I've said this today, but it really is!_" _I screamed. If I was happy before, I was ecstatic now. "Let me see them!"

And they were amazing. It started off with us blowing dandelions, the sunlight hitting our faces just right. Then to us covered in paint, laughing. Then to us at the creek, skipping rocks. There was one where Alek was behind me, teaching me to skip rocks, his face leaning over my shoulder, and we were both grinning widely at the rock he had helped me skip, his hand still holding my wrist. I smiled at that one. I was smiling to all of them. Then to us having dinner, the lanterns' warm light dancing off our skin. Ones of us laughing happily, colors bouncing off our faces.

"I love them. I really, really do." I bit my lip and looked up at Alek. We were outside now, walking home. Apparently Jasmine was at the library nearby here, and she didn't want to walk home, so she took Alek's car. She had an extra set of keys that she always kept in her purse.

"I knew you would." Alek bumped my shoulder with his.

"Can we go print these out tomorrow?" I asked.

"Sure."

"I'll make a picture wall in my room. Just dedicate a whole wall to pictures." I decided. He nodded.

"I'll do that, too."

The moon was out now, its soft blue rays beaming down on us. He stopped me right on my steps and looked at me.

"Thanks for the best day ever." I whispered.

"You're welcome." He whispered back. He gave me a big hug.

"Did I cheer you up?"

"Nobody else could've done a better job of it." I smiled sadly. I was sad that I had to come back to reality. Instead of frolicking in the park with paint and eating in lantern-lit restaurants, I had to come back to the life where my dad just suddenly appears out of no where and my mom was in a coma.

I realized that through the whole day, not once did I think about my dad or my mom. I smiled even bigger, if that was even possible.

So, with the bright moon shining, the camera bag slung over his shoulders, and his hand holding mine, we walked into my house, ending one of the most perfect days of my life.

Too bad when I walked into the house, a man I haven't seen for years decided to appear into my life again.

The thought I had tried to shove to the back of my mind – it was up close and personal now.

**Phewf! Okay, longest chapter in THE HISTORY of fanfictions I have ever written. It's seven pages on my document. :D I'm proud of myself. Sorry it took sort of long! Please review – it took me ages to think of the perfect date.[: **

**gator19: Thank you so much! LOL I know! Every time I'm left with a cliffhanger, I'm always really scared that they're just not gonna continue, and leave us hanging, just like ABC Family did to us. Abandonment issues...lol. From a TV network. XD Anyways, thanks for reviewing! **

**Stephanie: This one's really long, so I hope that made you happy![: Thanks for reviewing! **

**allycat12e: Awh, thanks so much! Your reviews are so sweet and they make me smile. ^_^ **

**mbj2323: Yes, yes! Her dad! XD Her dad didn't even appear in this chapter, ahha. Sorry! Hope you liked their date, though? Thanks for reviewing! **

**Kalirising214: Me, too.[: Thank you so much for reviewing! **

**ScissorLuv21: Cougar Path, ahahah! What a cute name! My school's like that, too but it's called GATE. I have no idea what it stands for...I'm in 8th grade too.[: Technology based classes sounds really cool! XD Except I kind of suck with technology, so...yea. I wouldn't survive. ANYWAYS, thanks so much for reviewing![: **

**Kayla: Your review made me smile so big. [': Thank you so, so much! I hope this chapter met your expectations? Ahahah, thank you so much for reviewing! **

**: Oh my gosh – your mom can pick locks? XD When I was little, my cousins taught me how to pick locks with a fork. And I'm very good at it. So don't ever tell me where you live...xD Omg that sounded stalkerish. LOL whatever. Thanks for reviewing![: **

**TwilightFreak28: Awh, thanks so much for reviewing![: **

**panaricanchick: And the drama continues even more![; Thanks for reviewing. **

**ohlalaachickaa: AAAH thank so much![: You are the sweetest thing ever. Thanks for reviewing! **

**randomreader19: That's awesome! I wish I could write a real book![: Keep going! I bet it's going to be amazing, really. Thanks for reviewing! **

**Barefooted Princess: AHAHAH Brian is such an UGH. XD I agree. He is an ugh. Your review was super sweet and I loved it![': Thanks so much! **

**Mik The Chibi Lover: Thank you so much![: **

**XxjoejonasfanxX: Sneaky little kitten, ahha you funnayyyy. AHAHAH I actually like Hannah Montana, so I was watching it with my little cousin and then for some reason I imagined Alek watching it and it made me laugh really hard. XD I think it's cute when guys cry, too. Except I don't really like it when someone else cries, because I do this stupid thing when whenever someone I know starts crying in front of me, I start crying too. And it's not to like, mock them or anything. It just makes me really really sad and then I start crying just because they're crying, and they're just like, wtf... Yea. :/ It's kind of embarrassing, lol. I am like, IN LOVE with your reviews, so thanks so much![: **

**Anon: Don't die, don't die! Here's a new chapter, did you like it? XD Thanks for reviewing! **

**Sam: Are you serious? An actual author? You are such like. A sweet potato pumpkin pie raspberry cake. I dunno. You're so sweet.[: Thanks so much for reviewing! **

**VannaMa'Kayla: Awh, thank you so much! :D **

**Evalina: Thank you! AAHAHAH yea...kind of ruins the seriousness effect of falling into a hole if you start laughing afterwards. XD But I wouldn't be able to say it to anyone with a straight face. I feel the same way with my parents. :l My dad was being such an asshat today my hatred for him is kind of increased right now. Ugh. Your reviews make my day – thanks so much.[: **

**Sam: I added more, ahha![: Thanks so much for reviewing! **

**Evalina: Ahahaha, that happens to me too! XD I get so excited near the end of some chapters that I forget to read the last few lines, ahha. Thanks for reviewing again! ^_^ **

**anonymous: LOL I'm glad you liked it! XD Thanks so much for reviewing! **

**You guys are amazing – I always get so many reviews on my chapters. I love you guys.[: **


	6. The Great Escape

_Too bad when I walked into the house, a man I haven't seen for years decided to appear into my life again._

_The thought I had tried to shove to the back of my mind – it was up close and personal now._

**Chloe's POV**

I stopped in my tracks, eyes wide.

My father turned around, and we made eye contact. For a second, everything was still.

Everything was quiet.

Then, my voice, sharp and deadly as a knife, sliced it open.

"What. The _hell_ do you think you're doing here?" I exclaimed, stepping forward. I slammed the door shut with my foot, and it made some windows shudder.

For a second, my old man looked shocked. As if he thought I would run up to him and embrace him, and just welcome him back in my life. Then, he looked angry.

"This is my house too." The voice I had dreamt of for so long – the one that haunted my memory; it was exactly the same.

"No, if I do recall correctly, it stopped being your home the day you _abandoned _us randomly!" I shrieked. I felt Alek slip his hand in mine, and it calmed me. He squeezed, and I squeezed back. My dad's eyes flickered from my face to our hands.

"I didn't abandon you." My dad's face was stony, his features hard. "I was simply taking a little break from everything."

"Oh, a little break?" I scoffed. "You missed over _half of my life. _Do you even know where Mom is right now?"

"Of course I do, that's why I c-" He stopped.

I cocked an eyebrow. "That's why you come. You wouldn't have come otherwise. You weren't going to come unless you absolutely had to. Figures." I brushed past him, bumping him with my shoulder, hard. Did he think he could just _waltz _back into my life, and we'll be a big happy family again? That we'll forget everything he's done to us? The bastard.

Dragging Alek behind me, I stomped up the stairs and grabbed my backpack, shoving random things in it. My toothbrush, clothes, my schoolbooks, pajamas, underwear, my hair things. The rest I could borrow from Jasmine. Alek watched my silently, knowing I wasn't in the mood to make conversation. I could tell her was angry at my father, too, chewing on the inside of his lip.

I slung the backpack over my shoulder and walked out of my room, Alek getting the message to follow. I walked down the stairs and wrenched the front door open, the cold blast of air hitting my face. It felt good. I'm sure I was sweating, my face red.

I felt out of control – I was too angry. I needed to calm down, my hands were shaking, and I couldn't calm my breathing.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice called from the kitchen.

"Alek's house." I said, not turning around, hand frozen on the doorknob.

"Did I ever give you permission to leave the house?" He walked out of the kitchen, carrying a glass of water.

What, you're back for ten minutes and you already own me? Think again.

"Did I ever give you permission to come back into my life?" I retorted.

His face turned red with anger, and he set the cup down. He took five long strides, and soon he was face-to-face with me, features contorted. Alek leaned more into my side, glaring. He didn't like my father any more than I did.

"I will come and go as I please. You know why? Because I'm. The. Adult. And you know what? You're grounded. You can not leave this house, and this..._boy_, or any other of your friends, are not allowed over. No computer, no phone."

I blinked, outraged. His words swam through my head, not quite processing them yet. Mom rarely grounded me. And when she did, Alek was an exception.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"I said," He started.

"I heard what you said." I snapped.

"Then go to your room. And you," he glared at Alek. "Out."

"This is Chloe's house. Only she can decide whether she wants me to go or not." Alek's jaw was tight, and I faintly heard his teeth grinding together. He did this when he felt I was being threatened. His arms were crossed, his gaze unwithering. I had to admit, even I was a bit afraid. But I felt a large wave of pride when he said those words – a normal friend would have cowered under my father's glare and backed out.

"Get. Out. Of. My. House!" My father growled. He shoved Alek out the door, and Alek, being unprepared, stumbled.

"Don't _touch_ him!" I shrieked, shoving my father back. He went back a couple of steps, but then recovered and grabbed my arm, painfully.

"Don't you dare push me, girl." He said.

Oh, so now I don't have a name?

"Let go!" I screamed.

"You're _hurting _her!" Alek shoved the man I used to love off of me, and inspected my arm carefully.

"I am done talking. This is my house, and I think I'm going to have to set new rules around here." My father grabbed Alek's arm and wrenched him out of the house, slamming the door. Since Alek's grip was on my arm, him being wrenched away caused me to stumble and fall.

I sat there on the floor, breathing heavy, my curls sweaty. I slowly looked up at him, knowing that my hair was unruly, covering some of my face. I probably looked ridiculously creepy, and crazy.

"I hate you. You are not my father." I spat at him.

He ignored my words, and reached a hand out to help me up.

"Don't touch me!" I roared. "The next time you ever, _ever_ touch one of my friends like that again, I will personally rip your throat out. Got it?"

Not true, but hey. A girl can bluff.

I then hitched the backpack back on my shoulder, and calmly walked upstairs. Right before I got to my room, I looked back, and he was just standing there, looking down. His fists clenched.

He was pathetic. I didn't feel an ounce of sympathy for him.

"Get out of my life." I said.

Then, I slammed my bedroom door shut, locking it. I don't intend to come out for a while.

The man I had so badly wanted to come back, the man I wanted to depend on – it turns out, it's good that he left.

I'm glad he left.

Now if only he would leave again. My blood was still boiling, and my face was too hot for my liking. Suddenly, I heard a muffled knock.

I looked up, and Alek was at his window. I went over to mine and sat, picking up the marker and notebook.

'Are you alright? Did he hurt you, cutie?' His notebook read. I stared at it for the longest time, chewing my lip. I looked back up to his face, which was concerned. For some reason, the sight of his nick-name for me made me burst into tears and bury my face in my hands, hair falling in front of my face. I heard another knock.

'Please don't cry.'

I quickly uncapped the marker and chucked the cap somewhere, not caring where it landed.

'I hate him.' Was all I wrote. I brought it up, and he read it. Tears were flowing steadily down my face, and I was constantly sniffling. I felt like a mad-woman.

Suddenly, there was a knock at my door.

"What?" I asked harshly, opening the door.

"Give me your phone." Was all he said. I growled and grabbed the phone from my bed, chucking it at his face. Then I slammed it closed again, locking it. I went back to my window seat and read Alek's notepad.

'Well, think of it this way. If he never came back, you would be left your whole life wondering whether you would've liked him in your life or not.'

I shrugged.

'I guess so. I never thought he would be such an asshole, though. Are you alright? Did he hurt you?'

'Yea, I'm perfectly fine. I saw you fall. Sorry about that.'

'Wasn't your fault in the slightest, Alek.'

We stopped writing after that, and I just pressed my hot, tear-stained cheek against the cold glass, fiddling with my sweaty curls. I stayed in that position for about twenty minutes.

I looked up, and saw that Alek's face was red, and he was also just sitting as his window seat, his face up against the glass. His face was angled away from me.

I knocked.

'Are you crying?'

He looked up, and I was sorry to see that he was. Not full-out sobbing, but there were tears. I didn't wait for him to answer.

'Please don't cry. Why are you crying?'

His only response was: 'Because you are.'

Which, of course, only made me cry even more. But I laughed through the tears.

Talk about a bittersweet moment.

'I love you, you know that?' I wrote him. I smiled at him.

'Love you too, cutie.'

I fell asleep there, curled up on my window seat.

I opened my eyes the next morning to burning sunlight, which didn't at all help the dryness in my eyes. I peeled my eyes open, which I'm disgusted to say crusted over from my tears.

I rubbed, and my eyelashes un-chunked. I saw Alek had fallen asleep at his window too. He wasn't awake yet.

I sat there for a while, letting the sunlight warm my face. I couldn't help but think of the song The Great Escape, and how it applied perfectly to my situation. I sung the chorus out loud:

"Throw it away.

Forget yesterday.

We'll make the great escape.

And we won't hear a word they say,

They don't know us anyway.

Watch it burn.

Let it die.

'Cause we are finally free tonight."

I decided not to disturb Alek from his slumber, and I got up. I washed my face and showered, washing out all of the sweat from my curls. My face had been all sticky from the tears and make-up. I pulled on a Pink Floyd band T-shirt, skinny jeans, and combat boots. Alek was still sleeping after that, so I went downstairs.

My father was no where to be seen. But there was a note.

'Remember – you're grounded. Nobody comes over, you stay in the house. I'm with your mother at the hospital. -Dad.'

I quickly ripped it up and threw it behind my shoulder. He wasn't my dad. I grabbed juice, chips, fruit, and bread, and made my way back upstairs. This could probably last me for about a day or two. I didn't exactly want to look the man in the face just yet. Alek still wasn't up, and I decided it was time to wake him up. I knocked roughly on my window, and he jumped. He rubbed his eyes, too, and made a motion which read, 'I'm going to go shower.'

I nodded, and bit into an apple, sitting back on the window seat. I pulled out a book and waited. But I couldn't concentrate, my vision always unfocusing. I wondered what my mother was talking about to my father right now. I wonder if she was glad he's back. I wonder if he's being nice to her. I wonder if she's better.

I squeezed my eyes shut – they stung from all of the tears. I tossed the apple core into my trash can, and saw Alek had come back.

'You don't have to stay in your room all day, you know. Just because I'm grounded doesn't mean you are.' I wrote him.

He shrugged. 'It's okay. I'll keep you company.'

I smiled at him, and he smirked back.

'Alek?'

'Yea?'

'Let's make The Great Escape.'

**Alrighty! Another chapter is up![: **

**Did you like it? Review, please! They make my day. **

**Oh, and by the way guys: 104 reviews. 104 reviews. 104 REVIEWS, AOGUHAUGH you guys are amazing, seriously. :'D **

**mbj2323: Ahahaha, thank you so much! Your review made me smile so hard.[: **

**padfootlover109: I have always wanted to be in a paint fight with someone. Never happens, though. :/ Thanks so much for reviewing![: **

**gator19: YOU ARE AWESOMELY AMAZING, GOSH. :'D Thank you so, so, so, so much! Ugh ily. Thanks for reviewing.[: **

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**TwilightFreak28: You're welcome! And thank you![: **

**Stephanie: All in due time, my child. ;D Thanks for reviewing. **

**VannaMa'Kayla: Oh, you know. My personal life is just that amazing.[; Omg just kidding. I sit at home all day and write and tumblr and eat. XDDDD But my guy best friend is pretty good, so he helped me with how Alek should act. I loved your review so much, ugh. Seriously. And you didn't need to summarize, long reviews are so amazingly sweet. :'D Thank you so much! **

**: Yea, they do, don't they? [; Thanks for reviewing! **

**randomreader19: Updating![: Thanks for reviewing! **

**Kalirising24: Awh, thank you so much! **

**A: Alek IS sweet! Can I have one? :O Thanks for reviewing! **

**ohhlalaachickaa: I'm like, in love with your review![: I wish I had a best friend like that too. Swoon. Thanks so much for reviewing! **

**panaricanchick: Yea, her dad ruins everything, doesn't he? :[ And I'm glad the date was like a fairytale! That's how I wanted it to be. :3 I wanna go on a date like that... D: Ohk yea you don't care. XD Thanks for reviewing! **

**ashley: Right! Thank you so much for reviewing! **

**XxjoejonasfanxX: Ahahah oh my gosh. I seriously screech in delight every time I see that you've reviewed, 'cause you leave the longest reviews known to man, and I love them so much that I read them over and over and over again. Dude, you're so lucky! We barely have any dandelions near where I live, so whenever I find one, I'm lucky. Ughmygod. I know. I want an Alek. Can I have an Alek? Well, some boys are like this in real life. Like, one out of 10 thousand, but ya know. XD And they're either 500 miles away or a marshan, but yea. I can skip rocks! Ah-ha! :D It took me like, literally years to learn. It's very difficult. :/ I love A Twist In My Story! I'm really obsessed with Boys Like Girls right now. Ahahah, I was about to make them kiss! But then I realized I would be rushing it a bit too much, and edited it out. And my friend says thank you, really. Everyone's so supportive. Thank you so, so much for your review! **

**fishies16: Love love loved your review! Thank you![: **

**Anon: Omg, you're so sweet. :'D Thank you so much for reviewing! **


	7. Whimsical Willow Trees

_I smiled at him, and he smirked back._

_'Alek?'_

_'Yea?'_

_'Let's make The Great Escape.'_

**Chloe's POV**

He grinned, from ear to ear.

'Let's do it.'

I raised my notebook: One...

He raised his: Two...

Then together: THREE.

We flung our notebooks away from us and sprinted down the stairs. I threw my front door open and heard Alek's footsteps echoing on his porch as we pounded down our driveways together.

"Left or right? Left or right?" He asked, panting.

"Left!" I said, and we started sprinting down the street, laughing loudly. We didn't take our cars because, one: That would take too long. And two: Running made us feel more free, it was more open. I felt like a bird that just learned how to fly – with the wind blowing through my hair, hitting my face sharply.

We stopped when we got to the park, and we jogged to the little trail that let through a nature preserve behind it. We started sprinting again, almost at the same time.

We did this often – the day my dad left, the day Alek's pet died, the day I didn't win my poetry competition. We just ran our worries away, our heartbeats thumping together in a flourish, our panting matching each others', arms pumping, feet smacking the ground harshly, hair airborne, clothes tangled.

After about ten minutes of bull-blown sprinting, we started to tire out. We slowed down until we got to a walking pace, our breathing so labored we couldn't even speak to each other.

My vision was dizzy, and I leaned against a tree for balance. It was a gorgeous willow tree, and I had to break through a barrier of its leaves and branches to get to the trunk. It felt like we were in a cave of green. It was darker in here, because of all of the shadow the thick, hanging leaves were giving us, but there were some spots where bright sunlight could burst through, giving the little spot we were sitting at a whimsical feel.

We were surrounded by the smell of moss and dirt, and the smell, though not pleasant, comforted me. I slid down the tree and sat, putting my head in-between my knees. I know it was horrible to do this after running, but I couldn't help it.

Alek sat down next to me, and we sat there in silence for a while. I heard him pluck something from the ground, and saw him hand me a small dandelion, but the kind that wasn't ready for blowing yet. The yellow flower. I smiled and twirled it in-between my fingers, watching the bright petals turn into a yellow blur. A loud bird cawed above us, and its shadow swooped over our heads. Nobody else was on the trail, so it was silent, with the exception of our breathing.

"Let's just stay here. Can we just sleep right here in this forest?" I groaned, thumping my head against the tree, placing the flower on my lap.

Alek placed his hand behind my head so the bark didn't cut into my scalp, and I continued banging my head. Once I was finished, he took his hand away, and the back of it was covered with scratches.

I grabbed it.

"Sorry," I frowned.

He shrugged. "S'ok."

I rubbed the white scratches away with my thumb, and after they faded, all that was left were little red lines.

I sighed and twisted my body, laying my head down on his lap. He proceeded to play with my curls, twisting them around his fingers.

"And to answer your question, sure. Let's sleep right here," He smiled.

"Won't that be fun? Until we get eaten by a bear, or something," I mumbled. "Did you bring your phone?"

"No. Did you?"

"No, my father took it away last night, remember?"

"Oh yea."

Suddenly, we heard footsteps.

Not light footsteps like those of a human, though.

Heavy footsteps. Like someone with _extremely _large boots, or...

Or an animal. I sat up, and we went absolutely still, listening. It was about thirty feet behind us to the left, and it was coming closer. My heart was beating so fast that I almost choked on it. I grabbed Alek's hand with my own, and he weaved his fingers through mine, squeezing.

"On three, we stand up and run back to the park, okay?" He whispered.

I simply gulped and nodded.

This would be the second time counting down today.

"One," I whispered.

"Two," He squeezed my hand.

"Three." We jumped up, our hands still connected, and started pumping our legs, running as fast as we could. Things were going great, until a bicyclist came zooming down the trail.

Straight at us.

Unfortunately, I didn't see him.

But Alek did.

"Chloe!" He tried to yank me out of the way, but I stumbled and fell.

"Shit!" I screamed. My ankle felt like it was in flames, the pain so great that it spread through my calf and up to my thigh.

"Chlo! Are you alright?" He knelt down by me, and glared furiously at the bicyclist.

"Asshole!" He shouted after him. "You almost ran her over, you retarded fuck!"

"Language," I chastised him lightly, clutching my ankle. I was clutching my leg, willing myself not to cry. I've been crying too much lately, it was bad.

"You almost died!" He exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"Getting hit by a bike would probably injure me, yes, but it probably wouldn't be a fatal wound."

Suddenly, the footsteps started getting closer. It sounded like the animal was running now.

"Alek!" I shouted, totally have forgotten about the animal. I tried to stand, but I couldn't. I looked at him, eyes wide. He scooped me up in his arms and was about to turn and run, until I saw a mask peering at us.

It was a raccoon.

We had been running from a raccoon.

The whole situation was so ridiculous that I started laughing. Alek, having not seen the raccoon yet, looked at me like I was psychotic. I just pointed, still laughing. I rested my head on his chest, giggling.

"It's..." I gasped. "It's only a raccoon! Ugh, my god!" I tipped my head back, then brought it back up again. "I thought it was like, a bear or something," I smiled.

He was laughing, now, too. "I thought it was going to eat us."

"Me too!" I laughed even harder. The raccoon had run away from the noises of our loud laughter, probably more afraid of us than we had been of it. He gently placed me down back at our tree, my foot in his lap.

"Does it hurt?" He frowned, his fingers hovering about my swollen ankle, afraid to touch it. I nodded.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I should've caught you when you stumbled."

I rolled my eyes. "It is I no way shape or form your fault, mister. So don't go blaming yourself for every little accident that will happen to me."

He shrugged again.

"And it'll get better soon."

Still, nothing.

"I'll heal."

We sat in silence for a while, me sneaking glances at him every so often. He looked deep in thought – the little crease in-between his eyebrows prominent. I reached over with my hand to smooth it out. I scanned his face. His eyelashes, which were so blonde that I rarely noticed them, were so long that it shocked me. They were swept up in a perfect curl, and for some reason every time he blinked I felt like I couldn't look away from them.

His cheekbones had become more prominent over the years, as he grew out of his toddler years and his cheeks thinned out. I had watched as he slowly grew up to become strong and tall. I remember when we were little, he was shorter than me. But one summer in between 7th and 8th grade, he had a sudden growth spurt. I guess that was when girls really started to notice him.

He grew up, growing super tall and started to do sports, getting the toned body he still had today. He finally grew his hair out so it got that perfect messy look. He started to wear nicer clothes, instead of the dorky superhero clothes his mum used to buy for him.

I had to admit – at first, it overwhelmed me. He had changed so much that summer, and I was scared that he wasn't going to be my best friend anymore. I barely noticed the small changes during the summer, but on the first day of school, when I heard almost every female whispering about how 'hot' he got, I finally noticed.

I blinked, shaking my head. I concentrated on his face again, and my heart fluttered. Alek with his long lashes. Alek with his high cheekbones. Alek with his straight nose. Alek with his pronounced jaw line. Alek with his perfect, white teeth.

Alek was my best friend.

But the feelings I had towards him certainly was not 'best-friendy' right now. I mean, best friends don't stare at their best friend's face and fantasize about how hot he got.

Right?

Oh god, what was wrong with me.

My emotions were all jumbled up in my stomach, making me confused. The whole time we had been thinking together, his fingers ran up and down my leg lightly. Gently stroking my swollen ankle, then rising up to around my knee, then going back down.

The lulling pattern of his fingertips against my skin should have comforted me, but it made my heart accelerate even more.

"What are you thinking about? You keep staring at my face as if you're going to burn a hole in it, or something," he smirked. I blushed.

"Nothing." There was no way I was telling him I was thinking about how good-looking he was. His ego would get so big that his head would explode.

He pulled me up so that I was actually sitting in his lap, not just my ankle. My eyes widened and I blushed even more, my face going red.

Stop it, Chloe! What's wrong with you?

_Well, you're sitting on his lap. Best friends don't sit on each others' laps. _

They could if they wanted to!

_No...they couldn't. _

He placed his hands in my lap and started playing with my fingers, his his chin resting on my shoulder. His soft breathing was making some strands dance along my jaw, tickling my face.

"Are you scared?" He asked quietly.

"Of what?"

"I don't know. Your father. Your mother's condition. Getting mauled by a bear." He chuckled at the last one.

"Sure. All three," I smiled. The sun was setting now, the sky turning orange and pink. "I meant it though, Alek. Can we stay out here?"

"Like camping?"

"Sort of."

"But we don't have blankets or tents or anything, cutie..."

I sighed. "I know. I don't want to go home, though."

"Why don't I run home, get some bandages for your ankle, a blanket and a tent? And some food and water..." He suggested. I contemplated it.

"Alright. Just...be back before dark, okay?" I bit my lip and turned my head, but blinking at the shock of his face being so close. I could see every little detail, every little mark on his face. I could see the flecks of gold in his chocolate brown eyes, tiny, almost imperceptible freckles along his nose, an eyelash that wasn't curling perfectly with the rest, but sticking out at an odd angle...

**Alek's POV**

She turned her head, and some of her blonde curls gently swiped my cheek. I stared at her. The green flecks in her blue eyes, the way her lips were naturally a pinkish red, even without any lipstick on. The way her lips were so full, parted slightly for her to breath. The way her skin was extremely pale, but somehow was rosy enough to make it look like she wasn't dead. The way her eyes were gigantic, larger than any other set of eyes I'd ever seen.

"I..." I pulled out of my reverie, and blinked, too. "I'll be back before dark. Just...be careful, alright?"

She just nodded. I gently pulled her out of my lap and stood up, and started jogging away. She waved good-bye.

"I'll be right back, cutie. Try not to get eaten by a raccoon," I smirked. She rolled her eyes and laughed, playing with some of her curls. Once I was out of her sight, I started sprinting again.

I needed to clear my mind.

I needed to clear my mind of her.

Best friends were _not_ supposed to fall in love.

That's not the way our relationship worked.

I don't even know what the hell his feeling I had was.

I don't know why it was hitting me so hard now.

But...I might be wrong, but...

"I think I'm in love with my best friend," I said out loud. I stopped running, panting, and leaned my arm on a tree. "I think I'm in love with Chloe. Chloe King. I'm _in love_ with Chloe King!" I said.

I don't know.

Saying it out loud made me feel a whole lot better. I started jogging again, trying to beat the sun home. I was still muttering under my breath like a mad man.

"Shut up, Alek. You're not in love with Chloe. You love her, but you're not in love with her."

But in that hour or so we had been completely silent, thinking together, the whole time, I had been thinking of her. Of how flawless she is. Of how her next boyfriend is going to be the most lucky guy in the world. Of her laugh, the way she bounced on her toes when she was excited.

Over the years, I had slowly fallen more and more in love with Chloe. Over the years, I started to think of her first as a friend, then as a sister, then as a best friend, and until about two weeks ago, something more. Something stronger than a sister or a best friend. But now?

I'm starting to think of her more like...like...

Like a girlfriend.

Each day the feelings increased, growing stronger and stronger, until I finally started to notice it. It was somewhere in the pit of my stomach, but branched to my heart, too. And I realized, that I wanted to be the next 'most lucky guy in the world'. I wanted to be the lips Chloe kissed, the reason for her smile.

But I didn't just want it.

I needed it.

I sprinted up my porch and grabbed a backpack, shoving some shirts in, water bottles, packaged snacks, a sleeping bag, a blanket. Then I got the tent and folded it up super small, and shoved that in too. I got the sticks used to support the tent into a bundle and just carried that.

I ran back to Chloe.

Tonight.

It needed to be tonight.

Because on our 'friendly date', I realized as I was thinking back on it, it wouldn't have been so friendly if we didn't _call_ it a friendly date. It would have been a perfect...boyfriend/girlfriend date. The paint fight, the romantic dinner, the pictures?

The thing that could've changed that date from a 'friendly date' to a 'more than friendly date' was a kiss.

A simple thing, really.

But a big thing.

An important, needs-to-be-perfect thing.

"Now that you're not in denial about your feelings anymore, Alek," I said to myself as I was nearing the tree, " it's time to figure out if she feels the same way."

Her blonde curls came into view, and I took a deep breath, and walked towards her.

**...I'm so evil. I'm sorry. XD NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE VERY IMPORTANT.**

**It will be up very soon, I promise. So please review and everthing![: I hope you liked this chapter, thanks for reading! **

**laughingsince98: Well, she did leave! XD But in this chapter...ahaha. Thank you so much for reviewing!**

**VannaMa'Kayla: Ohh, it's not personal. It's ohk to talk to me, you know.[: I know how you feel – well, not really. My father never left my family, but my uncle left one of my best cousins, and she stayed with me for a couple of months. I dunno. It was pretty rough, and I kind of hate him for it. He never came back, but it's probably for the best. :P I'm sorry, I know I haven't been updating very regularly. ]': But anyway. Thanks so much for reviewing!**

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**mbj2323: He is an absolutely asshole! :[ I don't like him. Even though he's my character. Hmph. I hope you liked this chapter, thanks so much for reviewing![:**

**gator19: OMGGGGGG. YOU'RE SO AMAZINGLY SWEET. I LOVE YOUU. Ooooh, I love Boys Like Girls![: One of my favorite bands. Thanks so much for reviewing! :'D **

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**Lele: Don't die, don't die! I updated! ^_^ Kinda took a while, I'm sorry. :/ Ahehe, thanks for reviewing! **

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**ohhlalaachickaa: Ahahaha, don't we all? [; Awhh, you're so sweet. I prefer guy best friends over girl best friends, too, 'cause there's less drama! And I dunno...I kind of find them easier to talk to, because they're better listeners. Which is probably why I have a guy best friend...lol. Anyway. I loved your review![: Thank you! Hope you liked this chapter. ^_^ **

**ScissorLuv21: Awwh, I like the nickname cutie too![: My best friend calls me cutie, so I'm just like, 'I'MA USE THAT IN MY STORY!' He was just like, '…..okay...but you better give me rights!' So...yea. This is me giving him credit for it. In the midst of all of these review replies. Ahaha anyway. Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter! **

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**twifreak127: You're so sweet.[: Thanks for reviewing! **

**panaricanchick: Me too.]: But sometimes you're kind of afraid of your parents, you know? Even if he wasn't there for half of her life, he's still her father. But she left anyway. :D Hope you liked this chapter, thanks for reviewing! [: **

**Vanina: ****muchas gracias! espero que te ha gustado este capítulo.**** (If you know English, I'm so sorry about the horrible Spanish...) **

**allycat12e: Oh I know! The Great Escape is like, the best song in the world.[': I love it. Ugh, I loved your review so much. You're like, the sweetest person alive, thank you! I do have some spelling errors, I'm sorry. ]': But I usually type these out and then I hurry up and update, because whenever I type up a new chapter, it takes a couple of hours, and by then I'm too impatient and eager to put it up, so I don't read it over or anything. I know it's bad, but yea. X[ Thanks for the advice and for reviewing![: Hope you liked this chapter.**

**ladywolf101: AWWWH thank you so much![': You're so sweet, ugh I love you. Yes, Brian is definitely coming back, very soon. And I read your PLL story, it was so good! :'D I reviewed and everything. It was amazing, you're super talented. Thanks so much for reviewing, hope you liked this chapter! **


	8. Of Flower Trails and Realizations

_"Now that you're not in denial about your feelings anymore, Alek," I said to myself as I was nearing the tree, " it's time to figure out if she feels the same way."_

_Her blonde curls came into view, and I took a deep breath, and walked towards her._

**Chloe's POV**

I heard footsteps, and I looked up to see Alek coming back, supplies thrown hastily over his shoulder. I smiled and stood, easing the backpack off his shoulder.

"Hey," he said softly. He backpack dropped off his shoulder and onto the ground with a thud.

"Glad to see you didn't get mauled by a raccoon on the way back," I smiled. He rolled his eyes and sat, pulling on my hand to get me to join him on the ground. There was something off about him – an uncomfortable vibe he was throwing at me. I looked at him oddly, but he wasn't making eye contact with me. He was looking down, playing with the dirt near his thighs.

"You okay?" I bumped my shoulder with his, and he bumped back.

"Yea, why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem...nervous."

Alek just shrugged. I grabbed his hand, making him drop the dirt he was running his fingers through.

"You can tell me anything. You know that. Why aren't you telling me this?" I frowned. "Did something happen while you were getting the tent? Are you hurt?"

A smile flickered onto his face and he shook his head no.

"Nothing happened, cutie. I'm just...lost in thought, I guess..." He bit his lip, and looked back down. I sent him a 'What the hell?' look, but he didn't respond.

I sighed. He would tell me eventually.

"Let's set up the tent then, yea?" I said, standing up and grabbing the backpack he brought with him.

"Good idea. Should do that before a wild raccoon attacks us again," he smirked.

I grabbed the sticks and the cloth of the tent, and set it down in front of us.

I then proceeded to stare at it helplessly, a look of confusion on my face. Alek glanced over at me and burst into laughter.

"You have no idea how to do this, do you, cutie?"

"I do! I'm just...remembering." I lied. He cocked on eyebrow.

"Oh? Alright, fine, fine. I'll just sit back and watch you 'remember', and once you do, put it up, yea?" He went back over to the tree and folded his hands behind his head, a contempt smirk on his face.

I glared at him, and looked back at the materials in front of me.

I picked up a long bendy stick thing, and poked the cloth with it. Alek threw his head back and practically cackled.

"This isn't funny!" I giggled. But I was glad he was back to his normal self again, no longer uncomfortable.

"Oh, you're right. This is a serious matter," he fixed his face into a serious expression, but I saw his lip twitch.

"Bastard," I muttered, sticking up a smaller pointier stick and jabbing it into the ground forcefully. I heard a stifled laugh behind me. I sat there for a few more minutes, playing with the tent materials.

Okay. I was officially utterly lost.

I looked back at Alek, pouting.

"I...I think I need some help," I said quietly.

"What was that?" he cocked his head to the side, bringing his hand to the ear.

"I know you heard me," I glared.

He shrugged. "I didn't."

"I think I need some help," I said again.

"What?" His accent was especially exaggerating on that word, because of the strain of containing his laugh.

"I NEED HELP PUTTING UP THE DAMN TENT!" I screeched.

"Alright, alright, no need to be so angry," he smiled, coming over and pulling me into a hug. He kissed my curls. "I'll help you put up the tent."

"Thank you," I smiled.

He put up the tent with ease, and I didn't do anything. I tried to, but he wouldn't let me. So after a while I just sat by the pile of plastic stick things and flung them at him, trying to hit him in the head.

Alek turned around and glared at me. "Is that really necessary?"

He was bending over, and I couldn't help but notice that a part of his shirt rode up so I could see a part of his smooth, tan back. I tried not to stare.

I shrugged. "You told me to bring you supplies so I wouldn't 'get in the way'. I'm giving them to you."

He turned back around, securing the tent into the ground, I think, and I tried again. It hit him square in the head. It bounced off and fell to the ground with a _thump_. I couldn't help but collapse to the ground and laugh. He whipped around, smirk on.

"Oh, I see how it is, King. You think this is funny? You think this is funny, eh? This. Means. War."

I shrieked and shot up, sprinting to the large expanse of trees for cover. I hid behind a thick oak tree, panting. I hid there for about five minutes.

It got quiet, and I peeked my head around the tree.

"Boo," a voice said. I shrieked and whipped around, randomly flailing my arms around. Alek ducked under them and sprinted at me. We were both laughing insanely, out of breath. I ran back to where we made camp, and saw that he had gotten the tent up. I heard his footsteps behind me, and they were getting closer. So I quickly zipped the zipper up, crawled in, and zipped it back down, hiding the zipper inside so he couldn't open it.

"Oh, you think you can hide? You think you can hide from me in there?" came his voice.

"Yes!" I laughed, huddling in the back of the tent.

Suddenly, the tent rolled over onto its side, making me tumble over with it.

"Alek!" I shouted, tangled up in the tent's cloth. I flailed around, and a hand suddenly grabbed my ankle. He dragged me out from the tent as I clawed at the ground, gasping for air, trying to resist. But he got me out and he tackled me, pinning me to the ground. He was smirking.

"Gotcha," he said.

I scrunched my nose at him. "Cheater!"

"Oh? How, in any way, did I cheat, Miss King?"

"You're stronger than me. All muscley. And you're taller. And...ya know. Stronger." I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll be sure to get fat and short next for the next time we play a game of intense hide and seek." He said sarcastically.

But I nodded. "Do just that," I agreed.

Alek got off of me and had to set up the tent again, and I laughed at him, teasing him about how that backfired on him. He just shrugged and said, 'It was worth it.'

He got it set up, but after that, we were utterly and hopelessly bored. We sat back to back, leaning on each other. He was playing with the dirt again, and I was plucking petals off of nearby dandelions.

"You know," I said, holding the flower close to my face and picking the yellow petals slowly, watching them drift to the ground. "I thought this would be a lot more fun."

"Me, too," he said.

"This is a lot better than home, but yea," I trailed off. He nodded.

"I have ants in my pants," I said, using the second-grade term for that tingly feeling you get when your legs are about to fall asleep. He laughed.

"Let's dance," he said. I blinked.

"What?"

"Let's dance! Come on, get up," he stood up, and took my hand and pulled my close. I put a hand around his shoulder, and he put one around my waist. We connected hands with our other arms.

We danced, but there was no noise except for the crunch of leaves and pebbles under our feet. He twirled me, and then dipped me. We slow-danced around for a long time, until I got tired of it.

"We need music," I announced.

Alek thought for a moment, and he shrugged.

"I got my mind set on you. There's nothing you can do to change my mind about it. Inside out you're beautiful. There's nothing you can do to change my mind about you," he sang. I threw my head back and laughed. We stopped waltzing around the forest and started jumping up and down, flailing our limbs and doing hair flips.

_It started innocent enough with a,  
>Day just like any other,<br>Woke up late and now I'm behind,  
>Americano on the corner,<br>She came without a warning,  
>Knocked my drink all over me,<br>She said "sorry I was rushing and I,  
>Gotta get to work",<br>After that I didn't hear a single word she said,  
>I was caught off guard by her turquoise eyes,<br>I knew right then I had to make her mine,  
>I got my mindset on you,<br>There's nothing you can do to change my mind about it,  
>Inside out you're beautiful,<br>There's nothing you can do,  
>To change my mind about you,<br>Turn out my pocket,  
>A crumpled up paper,<br>She gave me the day before,  
>A scribbled message and a number,<br>Said call me later,  
>Who am I to keep her waiting,<br>So without hesitation,  
>I sat down started contemplating,<br>If I were to call her,  
>Would it be too late?<br>I'm staring at the phone,  
>But I don't know what I'd say,<br>Something about this girl drives me crazy,_

_I got my mindset on you,  
>There's nothing you can do to change my mind about it,<br>Inside out you're beautiful,  
>There's nothing you can do,<br>To change my mind about you,  
>It started innocent enough with a,<br>Day just like any other,  
>Woke up late but right on time,<br>I got halfway out the door then heard,  
>"Where are you going?",<br>She grabbed me by the wrist,  
>She pulled me back into bed,<br>Pressed her lips against my ear and,  
>Here's what she said,<br>I got my mindset on you,  
>There's nothing you can do to change my mind about it,<br>Inside out you're beautiful,  
>There's nothing you can do,<br>To change my mind about you,  
>I got my mindset on you,<br>There's nothing you can do to change my mind about it,  
>Inside out you're beautiful,<br>There's nothing you can do,  
>To change my mind about you. <em>

By the end we weren't even singing anymore, we were basically just shouting the lyrics and air-guitaring.

We stopped, grinning from ear to ear, out of breath.

"We are such dorks," he said.

"And don't you forget it," I laughed.

The sun had set now, and we laid on our back and watched the stars.

"I see Orion's belt!" I pointed.

He nodded. "Me, too."

"...Yea, that's the only constellation I know." I said.

"...I didn't even know that was Orion's belt until you pointed it out to me."

I yawned, and he sat up.

"Let's get to sleep, yea?"

I shook my head. "I'm too tired to move. Can we just sleep here on the floor?" I whined.

"Remember the raccoons," he whispered.

"I don't care," I pouted like a child. "Let them come! The worst they can do is eat me!"

He sighed and bent down, and scooped me up.

"You are the laziest cutie ever."

"I'm your only cutie," I said into his shoulder. He nodded.

"That's a good point."

His smell overwhelmed me – a mixture of mint and some spicy soap, and I tried to discretely take deep breaths so I could breathe his scent in.

He set me down in the tent and closed the zipper. I could hear the crickets outside chirping, and the noise of animals far away walking.

We were both laying on our backs, our shoulders touching.

"Do you think my mom's alright?" I whispered. He rolled onto his side and faced me, supporting his head on his hand, leaning onto his elbow. His hair fell over his eyes, making me unable to see them.

"I don't know, Chlo. She will be, though. I think she will be."

I nodded silently, throwing my arms over my eyes to keep them from tearing up.

"I hate my dad," I muttered. He smoothed some of my hair.

"Let's not think about that now, alright? Let's sleep."

I nodded. "Okay. Good night."

"Sweet dreams. Don't let the raccoons bite."

"Oh, they would go for you first. You have more meat on you." I smirked in the dark.

"Are you calling me fat, King?"

"Maybe." I had to snort, because Alek was anything but fat. Oh well. Didn't need his self-esteem to get any higher.

Alek fell asleep shortly after that, but I laid awake, staring at him.

He was on his side facing me, and I was on my side facing him. We had a blanket we were sharing, but I suddenly had an extremely strong urge to crawl over and snuggle into his arms.

But friends don't do that.

Why do I even want to sleep in his arms? Friends don't feel like this to other friends. Even if he is your best friend.

"I want to be more," I whispered. But he was asleep.

So I rolled over onto my back and shut my eyes, drifting off into dreamland.

I woke up and groaned, groggily kicking the blanket off. The air was warm now, and the crickets were replaced by the birds' songs.

I reached my hand out to find Alek, but he wasn't there.

Huh.

I went outside, and grabbed a brush that Alek had remembered to bring from his backpack. I ran it through my curls and rubbed my eyes. I was still in the same clothes as yesterday.

"Alek?" He wasn't there. Suddenly, I spotted a dandelion on my left.

That's weird. It was picked, and just laying there on the ground. When I was picking the petals yesterday, we were to the right of the tent. I went over to it, and about five feet away, was another one.

_What is this? _

I came up to the 2nd flower, and I saw a paper attached to a tree. I ripped it off and folded it open.

_Good morning, cutie._

I smiled. Alek. I went up to the third flower, folding the first note up, and ripping the note off of the tree next to the 3rd flower.

_Did you sleep well? _

Fourth flower. _What I'm about to say, or write, might change our lives forever._

Fifth flower. _Dramatic, I know, but it's true, Chloe._

Sixth flower. _I've been thinking about this for a very, very long time..._

Seventh flower. The trail and tent wasn't even in sight anymore. _And I finally got an answer. I've come to a conclusion._

Eighth flower. _I finally know how I feel_

What is he talking about? How he feels about what?

Ninth flower. _Our whole lives, we've been best friends. More than that. _

Tenth flower. _But...have you ever thought of us as something more...? _

I stopped in my tracks, staring at the paper with wide eyes. Something more? Does he feel the same as I do...?

I hurried to the next flower, glancing around at the trees for the paper. I found it. _I have. I've thought about it a lot, Chloe. _

Twelfth flower. _And I realize that..._

Thirteenth flower. I looked around at the trees, but there was no paper. I looked up.

Alek was standing there, holding a piece of paper and a dandelion. He was just standing there, biting his lip, the paper positioned in both of his hands.

_I love you. _

**Oh my goodness this was long. I'm proud of myself.[: **

_**So this time, in a review, would you guys mind doing something for me? Would you mind telling me what your favorite part was, or your favorite line...? Something like that? I would really like that.[: Thank you!**_

**Sorry for not updating in a while, guys. I hope you liked this chapter, though! Reviewing would make my day, thank you! **

**ScissorLuv21: AHAHA your poor father! Probably thought you guys were getting robbed, or something.[': And he brings a broom for self-defense...ohh you make me laugh. XD He's FINALLY told her! I'm so happy! AHAH you've trained them yourself, have you? That's nice. Take pride in that. XD Must have been difficult. Thanks so much for reviewing! **

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**Vanina: Ahaha, I just realized that if you didn't know English, you wouldn't have been able to read my story...yea, kind of a stupid moment for me. I'm sorry. XD Thanks for reviewing! **

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**Alekismine: AHAH he probably took a key with him when he left so many years ago! He is such a creep. Chloe should report him. :/ Thank you for reviewing! **

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**CRAZYbutLOVABLE: AAHAHA your raccoon story...made me laugh. [': You sound adorable. But it's okay. One time me and my friends were camping out in the woods, and we were telling ghost stories and I am EXTREMELY scared of ghosts and wild animals, and we heard foosteps and really big rustles, and I got really really scared so I jumped into my best friend's lap, buried my head into his neck, and practically started crying, and it was a rabbit. Yea. I was so embarrassed. XD Ahahah the rabbit that scared me can be the one that bites Brian's arm off! Thank you so much for reviewing. ^_^ **

**ohhlalaachickaa: Ohh, why don't you guys hang out? You should invite him over more often or something, and talk more. I dunno. I have a guy best friend like this, but...you know. No romance. XD 'Cause lives aren't like fanfictions. Sigh. But it's okay. We'll have this one day. ONE DAY. We'll get a boyfriend and get married and live happily ever after, ahaha. Thank you for reviewing! **

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**SharonLoves1D: Thanks for reviewing! **


	9. Low Expectations and Chicken Noodle Soup

_Alek was standing there, holding a piece of paper and a dandelion. He was just standing there, biting his lip, the paper positioned in both of his hands. _

_I love you._

**Chloe's POV**

I stood frozen in my spot, staring at the paper with wide eyes.

Was this some kind of joke?

I let out a nervous chuckle.

I looked back up to Alek's face, which was becoming more and more worried by the second. He didn't have his joking face on.

He meant it.

Alek actually loved me back.

As in, more than a best friend love.

My mind raced back to the creek and the dinners and the dandelions and the window notepads and I could hardly breathe.

I laughed loudly, and tears of shock and happiness burned the back of my eyes. I ran up to him and hurled my body towards his, and he had to catch me, taking a few steps back to balance himself.

"I love you too," I said. "I love you too!"

He laughed with me, kissing my hair.

"Thank god...I thought you were going to reject me from the amount of time you stood there gaping at the paper," he teased.

"Me? I would never. I mean, who could reject the Petrov charm?" I stuck my tongue out at him.

Alek smirked. "Nobody."

Then, he leaned forward and kissed me.

The feeling of his soft, warm lips against mine made all my limbs go weak, and if Alek weren't carrying me I would've fell to the floor. I smiled into the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair lovingly.

He groaned and deepened the kiss, and I let him. I clutched on tighter to him, and wondered how this happened. I had gone from secretly crushing on my hot British best friend and being in total denial to making out with him in a forest.

But hey. I wasn't complaining.

The scent of his skin made me draw him closer, and he tightened his grip on me.

He pulled away from my lips, panting, giving me air. He moved onto my neck, planting little wet kisses on it.

"You have no idea how long I have waited to do this," he breathed out between kisses.

"You have no idea how long _I_ have waited for you to do this," I said to him.

Alek pulled away, grinning a smile so big it made me grin back.

"Love you," he said.

"Love you too," I said back.

He set me down and caught my hand, and we walked back to our tent.

We sat down and started eating some of the packaged food he brought in his backpack, and I couldn't help but think about my dad. And my mom...oh god, my mom.

Who was in the hospital, fighting for her life.

I looked at Alek, my eyebrows pushed together.

He saw my sad expression and moved closer, bring me into his lap.

"I think," I said in a small voice. "that we need to go back now. I mean...I think it's time to face my dad, and visit my mom."

I felt Alek nod, his chin resting on my head.

"I think that would be a good plan. Let's get packing then."

He was about to slide me out of his lap, but I turned around and pecked him gently on the lips.

"Thank you," I smiled. "For everything."

He smirked. "You're welcome for everything."

I laughed.

"Seriously though. I don't think I would be able to go through this without you, Alek."

His expression turned serious.

"I wouldn't be able to live without you, cutie. So don't go around thinking I'm the great one when you're my shooting star."

"Well, if I'm a shooting star, then you're my sun," I smiled.

"Because I'm hot?" he winked at me.

I threw my head back and laughed, and pushed off of his lap.

"No, because you're big and fat."

He pouted. "Meanie."

"Fattie."

He lifted his shirt, showing off his perfect six pack.

"If this is what you call fat, then I don't know who's good enough for you," he shook his head mockingly and turned around with a huff, going over to the tent to disassemble it.

I laughed, leaning back on my arms and smiled up at the sun. Its golden rays reminded me of Alek's hair, and I sighed a bit. I turned my head to the left and watched as his strong arms took the tent apart, his muscles visible through his shirt.

We got everything in his backpack, and walked back in silence, holding hands.

Even though we just become boyfriend and girlfriends, this all felt so natural. Everything felt...right. Everything felt good.

We got back to our houses, and I saw that my father wasn't home. I walked up my porch steps and went to go take a shower, writing a message to Alek and taping it on my window: **Come out in half an hour.**

Once I was done showering, I slipped on a pale yellow sundress, a cropped denim jacket, and pulled on white wedge sandals. I wrestled my hair into a wavy side-braid, and took the paper off of the window.

I saw his message back to me: **Will do. I'm hungry, though.**

I laughed and rolled my eyes at his message. I went downstairs, grabbing my bag from a hook, and stepped outside. Alek was already there, sitting on my porch steps.

"Ready?" he stood up when he heard me approaching.

I nodded.

My happy mood disappeared the closer we got to the hospital.

We parked, and silently made our way up to my mom's room.

Again, the sickly yet clean smell of the hospital made me crinkle my nose.

My hand tightened on Alek's as I saw my dad in the hospital room on a chair, sitting next to my mother. His shirt was wrinkled and his eyes were bloodshot, and the hair he had left on his balding head was messy.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked.

He turned around and glared at me. "Do I not have a right to visit my injured wife?"

"No. You lost that right when you walked out of our lives," I said icily.

"I came home last night – you weren't there. Where the hell were you? I don't know if I need to define 'grounded' for you, but it means no going out."

"I was in the woods camping," I said bluntly.

"We will talk about this later, Chloe," my father growled.

I just rolled my eyes and sat down on the other side of the bed, reaching out to take one of my mom's icy hands.

"Momma," I said. "Please wake up. This man I used to call my father is back, and he's trying to shove his way back inside our lives again. He's not the man he used to be, Momma, and if you were awake you could make him go away. Please wake up, Mommy..."

Alek still stood by me, never once removing his hand from mine, glaring at my father.

My mom didn't even stir.

But my father let out a disbelieving guffaw.

"Hah! Make me go away? She's been waiting years for me to come back into her life. She would embrace me with open arms – she would scold you for being so rude to me – to your own father!" he said.

"You are not my father!" I shouted. "As I have said, you lost that title when you _abandoned_ us!"

"Blood is blood, Chloe. You can't change that," he sneered.

I sarcastically sneered right back, eyebrow cocked.

"Families aren't based on whether you share blood or not."

Then I remembered Alek was hungry.

"Alek's hungry," I said stiffly. "We're going down to the cafeteria."

I started to lead Alek out of the door.

"When will you be back?"

"When we're done eating," I said sharply.

I looked back at my father, who was sitting on an ugly, brown, uncomfortable hospital chair, unshaven, holding my mother's hand, and for a minute I almost felt sorry for him.

But I didn't let it trickle into my eyes – I set my mouth and slammed the door shut, clutching Alek's hand.

We walked down to the cafeteria in silence, and he got his food.

I sat down at the table with a sigh, and I plopped my head down on my arms, closing my eyes. I felt him gently stroke a curl that escaped my braid off of my face – that one annoying, short curl that always fell in front of my face - and place a hand on my cheek. I reached up and held it there, warm heat radiating from his palm and warming my face.

Alek had gotten a big bowl of chicken noodle soup, and I lifted my head and rested my chin on the table, looking up at Alek.

He smiled gently at me and took my hand with his left, eating with his right.

"Are you hungry? Do you want some?" he asked.

I shook my head and closed my eyes again, blowing stray pieces of hair out of my face.

"Yes, you are. Here," he held the spoon in front of my face, only with a couple noodles on it, no meat. He liked that I hated the chicken in chicken noodle soup, and I smiled. I opened my mouth and he put the warm spoon in my mouth, and I held it in there, my eyes shining with humor.

He tried to pull it out, but I held it in place with my teeth. I swallowed the soup so that it didn't spill out when he took the spoon back.

"Chloe," he laughed. "Release!"

I shook my head back and forth, scrunching up my nose, shaking with silent laughter.

I must have looked ridiculous – with my boyfriend trying to pull a plastic spoon out of my mouth.

Boyfriend.

The word felt good.

He let go of the spoon, and the tension behind my teeth lessened.

"Aaallrighttt," he said, drawing out the word. "If that's the way you wanna play it..."

He suddenly jumped out of his chair and grabbed me in his arms, and started tickling me.

My eyes bugged out of my head, and I shrieked.

He lunged for the spoon, but I closed my mouth again.

We were on the floor now, and I was on my back, kicking my legs, while he was on his knees, tickling with one hand and pulling with the other. He kept tickling me, and I wriggled furiously in his grip. He was laughing so hard his tickles were more of gentle jabs and strokes.

But that still did the trick.

I let out a gasp cackle thing, and Alek "Aha!"ed in triumph and took the spoon back.

I was laying on the hospital cafeteria floor, gasping for breath.

He smiled and leaned down, pecking me on the lips.

"Love you," he whispered.

I smiled and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Love you too," I said.

We got up – much to the annoyed stares of strangers, who were annoyed by the sounds of our loud laughter, and finished the soup. It was kind of bland and oily, but we were too hungry to care.

We threw the container away and went back up to the hospital room, only to see it swarmed with nurses and doctors.

My face blanched and I stopped in my tracks.

_Was my mom dead?_

"Oh my god," I muttered. My knees buckled and Alek had to wrap an arm around my waist to keep me up.

"It's okay, Chloe," he said. "Maybe she woke up."

We ran over and tried to get in, but nurses pushed us out of the way and told us that we couldn't come in yet. I looked around wildly for my dad – if he had stayed in the room with her, he would know what was going on.

I saw him coming out of the bathroom, rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on?" I demanded, rushing over to him.

But he looked just as surprised and confused as I did.

"I-I...I just went to the bathroom! Everything was calm before I left!"

He ran up and started to talk to one of the nurses, who was giving him short, annoyed replies.

"Oh my god, oh my god," I whispered, hiding my face in Alek's shoulder.

Why wouldn't they let us in?  
>If she was awake, they would let us in, wouldn't they?<p>

But if she had died...

I was shaking with fear and shock.

"Chloe," he ducked his head down and looked at me. "You don't even know what's going on yet. You can't assume the worst. She could've woken up and gotten better – and they're just giving her some more shots or something. It's alright, cutie. Calm down, it'll be okay..."

I looked up at him with sad blue eyes, and he tucked the curl behind my ear, keeping his hand on my cheek.

"I've learned to set my expectations low so my heart won't ever be crushed again," I said quietly.

He had no response to that.

**Iwant9Lives2Live: [: Ahahah updating! Thanks for reading, love! ^_^**

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**XxjoejonasfanxX: AHAHAH I had a British friend. Whenever she talks I just like, don't even listen to what she's saying and listen to her accent. Ahahaha. And I have an Australian friend, and he is SO. CUTE. Him and his accent. [; Ahaha, but I'm glad you liked this chapter! Thanks so much for reviewing. And it's alright – school's been pretty hectic for me, too. Finals are coming up and stuff. Blehh. **

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**ohhlalaachickaa: Awwh, that's really really sweet.[: You guys will stay friends, I'm suree. AHAH oh my gosh, thank you so much! He found out that I told people that we were friends, and he was like '…we're not friends anymore. Bye, cutie.' and I was like, D: Yea. XD It was funny. But anyway, thanks so much for reviewing! Hope you liked this chapter. ^_^ **

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	10. Internal Bleeding

_I looked up at him with sad blue eyes, and he tucked the curl behind my ear, keeping his hand on my cheek._

_"I've learned to set my expectations low so my heart won't ever be crushed again," I said quietly._

_He had no response to that._

**Chloe's POV**

The nurses finally were fed up with my father's pestering questions, so they just let him into the room and slammed the door shut.

I jumped up and started shrieking. "Wait! I need to go in too! That's my mom! That man doesn't even _care_ about her, I-"

"Miss, you need to calm down. Everything is under control. You can see her once she is better," a male nurse ran over and shushed me.

"Why does my father get to go in? He left us," I swallowed, in hysterics. In the background, I heard Alek tugging on my hand and telling me to breathe. He was guiding me backwards, and he sat down on a chair, an empty one next to it. "He left us! He doesn't give a _crap_ about my mother. I've been with her my whole life! Why does he get to go in and I don't?"

"You need to understand that we're doing all we can for your mother," the nurse said. Through my haze of panic, I noticed that he had a slight Australian accent, and deep hazel eyes. He looked like he was in his 30's. "You being in that room would just slow the process down, or even end it. It's better for you if you stay out here with your boyfriend."

And even though I was still furious, I nodded and sat down, taking shaky breaths. Alek was rubbing my back, not saying anything.

The nurse walked away, sending me one last sympathetic glance.

"I love her more than he does," I whispered.

Alek nodded. "I know you do, cutie."

"He doesn't even love her," I glared at the floor, angry tears threatening to spill out. I kicked at a ball of paper lying near my foot, and it flew to the other side of the room, and hit an elderly nurse's leg with a loud _thwack_.

I answered her death glare with one of my own.

"Chloe, darling," Alek sighed, pulling me into his lap so I would stop shuffling my feet. "Kicking trash at the elderly isn't going to make anything better."

He reached up and smoothed the crease between my eyebrows. He leaned in and slid his lips over mine, gently kissing me. His hands went up to softly cup my cheeks, and I sighed into his mouth. I loosely wrapped my arms around his neck, and moved one down to trace his pronounced jaw line, moving my lips with his. His warm breath tickled my cheeks, and made some stray curls move slightly.

I leaned away and nuzzled my head into his neck. "I'm sick of this place. We've been in here too long."

The sickening smell of the cleaning products and rubber gloves in the air made me gag. The endless noises of heart monitors and talking and the desk attendants clacking away on their keyboards made my head ache.

"Do you want to leave?" Alek asked gently.

I widened my eyes and shook my head vigorously. The thought of being dragged away from the room my mother was in made me go into panic mode. "Not until I find out what happens to my mom!"

"Okay, okay," Alek chuckled. "We won't leave until you want to."

Two hours passed, and Alek and I stayed in the same position on the chairs. There was the occasional concerned questions he threw at me, wondering if I was hungry or thirsty, or sleepy, or too cold. I just shook my head each time, but somehow I still found myself with his jacket over my shoulders as he held me.

Both of our eyes were trained on my mother's hospital room door, and each time a nurse came in our out, I would sit up straighter. But they were only going out to get more supplies or some paperwork or something, and each time they would close the door too quickly for me to try and peer inside.

Suddenly, my father came out of the room and walked towards us.

I gave a little shriek and jumped up. "How is she? She's fine, right? I can go in now? Come on, Alek!"

I tugged his hand and he stood up, catching his jacket that was falling off my shoulders and wrapping it tighter around me.

But there was something off about my father's face. He had deep bags under his eyes, which were dead-looking, emotionless. His lips were pushed down into a frown, and his hair was messier than before, due to him running his fingers through it too many times.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you smiling? She's better, isn't she? Momma's gonna be okay, right?" My voice grew tired and little, and I suddenly felt like a 9 year old again.

My father stepped forward to place a hand on my shoulder, but I cringed into Alek, not accepting his touch.

"Chloe," he cleared his throat, his voice scratchy. "Your mother...she's not going to get better, sweetie."

I stared at him, too shocked to be mad at him for calling me 'sweetie'. "So she's going to be bedridden for the rest of her life? The doctors said that she would get better!"

My father looked at me, pain evident in his eyes. "Something went wrong, Chloe. Nothing they were doing for her was working."

"I need to go see her. I need to talk to her," I said, pushing past him. But he caught my wrist.

I yanked it out of his grasp, twirling around.

"_What_? You were in there the whole time, while I had to sit out here _waiting_, not even knowing what was going on! Do you know what that was like for me? You don't even _love_ Mom! I need to talk to her."

"_Chloe_," my father snapped, his face growing dark. "When I said that she wasn't going to get better, I didn't mean that she was _bedridden_. She's dead, Chloe. She's dead."

His voice cracked, and a tear escaped his eyes. He angrily swiped it away, practically slapping his own cheek.

"What do you mean she's _dead_? That's not possible. I remember she promised that she would never leave me, not so soon," I scoffed.

I felt Alek come up to me and take my hand again, cautiously.

"Chloe...look." He gently moved his fingers under my chin and turned my head.

Doctors and nurses were coming out of my mom's hospital room, dirty, tired, and worn out. They all wore grim expressions, pulling their white rubber gloves off.

Even the air around them looked like death.

"How...?" I choked out.

"Something about internal bleeding," my father said.

I expected myself to crumble to the floor and cry.

Maybe even die myself.

I've imagined this day before, of course. The day my mother died.

She would've died of old age, of course. Her hair would be gray, and her hands would be soft with wrinkles and age spots.

I would be sobbing my heart out, hugging my knees to my chest, clutching my mom's hand and not letting go. We would be in a hospital room, and her heart monitor would show a straight line. I would be on the chair next to her bed, muscles cramped up from sitting there too long. Someone, maybe Amy or Alek, would be tugging on my free hand, telling me that it was time to go.

I would be shaking my head violently, screaming and moaning. Then doctors would have to come in and drag me away.

Or something dramatic and sickeningly sad like that.

But this was the real thing.

And everybody knows that reality is much, much different than fantasy, even sick fantasies like that.

I let out a little laugh. I erupted from my throat, and I choked on it.

My ears started ringing, and my mouth went dry. My heart contracted painfully, and I had to bring a hand up to my chest.

Breaths were coming difficultly, and I became dizzy.

"She left me. She left me just like _you_ did," I glared at my father. "But this time it's worse because she didn't mean to."

I let out another hysterical laugh. I saw the Australian nurse look at me, worry and sympathy in his eyes. I glowered at him.

The damn bastard said that everything was under control.

"She didn't leave you, Chloe. She's always with you. I bet she's watching right now. Your mum would never leave you," Alek murmured.

I almost forgot he was there. I looked up and saw that his face was distorted with grief, just like my father's. I placed my hand on his cheek.

Why was it that he looked more sad than I did?

Why couldn't I cry?

I wanted to cry for my mother.

Why was nothing coming out?

My father's once expressionless face was now twisted up with sobs, and he was hunched over with grief. A nurse had come over and was rubbing his back and leading him somewhere.

But my face was neutral, completely blank.

"Can we please go home?" I asked Alek, my voice hoarse.

"Of course. Of course, let's go." He nodded. He quickly dragged me away from the hospital room, but I dared a glance back.

I saw two men wheeling a bed away, a feminine body hidden under a white sheet.

And then my world started spinning, and a heavy darkness took over.

**I'm really sorry for the wait, guys!**

**And for the sadness in this chapter!**

**I really, really appreciate each and every one of your reviews.**

**I hope you liked this chapter. Review, please![: **


	11. Lost Soul

_"Can we please go home?" I asked Alek, my voice hoarse._

_"Of course. Of course, let's go." He nodded. He quickly dragged me away from the hospital room, but I dared a glance back._

_I saw two men wheeling a bed away, a feminine body hidden under a white sheet._

_And then my world started spinning, and a heavy darkness took over._

**Alek's POV**

Chloe asked me to go home in the smallest voice I've ever heard her use. She looked up at her with her frighteningly large eyes and I could see tears brimming along her lower lash line. Something in my heart broke a little and I nodded quickly, taking her hand and leading her towards the elevator.

I walked quickly towards the hall, hoping we would get there before they took away her mother's body. But she looked back, and I quickly opened my mouth to tell her not to look. But she already saw, her body quivering, her already pale face going even paler under the fluorescent hospital lights. Sharp, quick gasps were sucked into her mouth and her knees buckled.

I called her name, but it didn't seem as if she could see or hear me. I caught her limp body right before it hit the ground, panic settling in my head.

"Chloe!" I tried again. Her eyes closed, her body still trembling violently. Nurses peered at us worriedly from over their desks, eyebrows scrunched together. A doctor came over to us and kneeled by me.

"Is she alright? What happened?"

I swallowed the momentary fear and panic that had clogged my throat and just shook my head.

"She-" my voice cracked, and I sighed and scooped her up, standing. "She looked back and saw her mom being wheeled away. She panicked. I'll just take her home and let her rest."

He looked at me and then back to Chloe in my arms, and then nodded. "Give her lots of water, son."

I turned on my heel and brought her down to the car. My head was spinning – it was too fast. Everything was moving too fast. One minute Meredith's perfectly fine, and the next Chloe is collapsing from the sight of her body. The sight of her body, hidden under that thin, white hospital sheet...

The image flashed before my eyes, and I clenched my jaw, setting Chloe in the back seat. I got into the front seat and gripped the steering wheel, my head down. Frustration gripped me like a vise, and I had the urge to punch something.

_Why was this all happening to Chloe? First her dad leaves her, then he just violently comes back into her life like a tornado, and now her mother's dying on her. She's done nothing in her life to deserve this, any of this. _

I looked back at her, her face troubled even in sleep. Her lower lip was pushed out slightly and her eyebrows were pulled together. Her wild mass of wayward blonde curls spilled all around her face, framing it like a soft pillow.

For a while I just sat there, staring at the tiny little wrinkles in the leather seat of the car, tracing them slowly with my eyes. They reminded me of veins. Tiny little fragile veins, so easily cut...

A major vein that's been cut can lead to death.

I took in a sharp breath and looked up. I harshly jabbed the key into the key slot and drove home, trying not to get distracted by the hoards of happy families eating ice cream on the sidewalk.

I got into my driveway and saw that Chloe's father had returned home. I looked from her house to mine, and decided she would be happier with me. Add that to the fact that I wanted to be there for her when she woke up, knowing that her father wouldn't be, probably too consumed by his own grief, I made up my mind and took her to my room.

I laid her down gently, tucking my grey blanket around her. I smoothed back that one stubborn curl that always hung in her face and bent down, leaving a lingering kiss on her forehead. Her scent enveloped me, and I wanted to roll on top of her and clutch her body to mine, protecting her from everything that could possibly hurt her in life, taking the blows for myself.

I felt her eyelashes flutter open against my cheek, and she whispered my name. I pulled back and cupped her cheek with my palm, smiling softly at her.

"Are you alright? Do you want water?"

She shook her head, burying her face into my hand, giving it tiny little kisses. I saw that silent tears were running down her face, and panic spread through my body again.

"Chloe," I bent down, laying my head in the crook of her neck. I gave it a kiss. "Tell me what you need. Please. Let me help you."

She was silent for a minute. Then she whimpered and wound her arms around my neck, pulling me down to lay beside her. "I just need you."

I got under the blanket with her and she squirmed over to me, her arms still around my neck. I tucked her head under my chin and repetitively smoothed her hair. I felt her hot tears slide down my neck, her arms trembling from holding me tightly to her.

Chloe lifted her tear-stained face to me, and I ducked down, moving my lips with hers. I could taste the salt of her tears and her wet eyelashes batting mine. I pulled back.

"Do you want to...go talk to your father?"

She pushed her eyebrows down. "No."

I sighed and rubbed her back. "You have to talk to him sometime, Chloe. And I mean actually talk, not argue while flinging kitchen utensils at each other."

Chloe's scowl deepened, but I saw her lips twitch. "We do _not_ fling kitchen utensils at each other."

I chuckled. "Whatever you say, cutie. Whatever you say."

"Fine. Only every other night," Chloe joked.

I chuckled and shook my head.

The small smile that had slightly graced her lips immediately disappeared.

"I shouldn't be laughing and joking with you," she murmured, closing her eyes tight and shaking her head back and forth, her curls bouncing.

The smile fell from my lips, too.

"Chloe," I sighed out.

"No." Her eyes were still closed, and she was gnawing on her lip. I slowly reached over and brushed my thumb across her chin, pulling her bottom lip out from her teeth's trap.

"What do you mean no?" I crooned. "Why aren't you allowed to laugh anymore?" I brushed my lips across her forehead, inhaling her scent. Her hands twisted in my shirt, and she continued shaking her head. Her hands were shaking, and I heard her swallow thickly.

"No, no, no..." she mumbled. "She's not happy anymore. She isn't...she isn't laughing. Why do I get to laugh when she can't? When she's eight feet under with-" Her throat closed and she let out a sob. "When she's eight feet under with earth worms crawling all around? She _hates _bugs, you know, she would hate it down there..."

I clenched my jaw and pulled away. She looked at me, surprised. "Chloe. I – God, how do I say this. Let's just think for a moment, okay? Just open your mind for a second. What if – what if you were in her position? What if _you _were the one that died, and...somehow, you could see us. Me, Jasmine, your mom, everybody you cared about."

Chloe looked at me, her eyebrows furrowing. She sniffled and didn't say anything.

"Would you want us to stop living, to stop being happy _just _because you passed away? Would you want us to wallow away in our bloody rooms crying until we had no more tears left because of you? Do you think your mum would want you to stop laughing, to stop being _happy_, just because of an accident?"

Chloe's green eyes were wide now, and her lips parted slightly. She looked down at her hands, which were tucked in-between us, thinking. She took a shuddering breath, and I pulled her in again, feeling the goosebumps on her skin that had awakened due to the lack of my always-there body heat.

"Mmm," she grumbled. "I wouldn't want that."

"I know you wouldn't, Chlo. I know. Because you are purely good at heart. And so is your mother. She wouldn't want you to _ever _stop smiling, no matter any reason."

She slowly nodded, her eyes flickering back and forth. I pressed a lingering kiss on her forehead and sat up from the bed.

"I need to use the bathroom. I'll be right out, okay?"

Chloe nodded and sat up too, walking across my room to grab a bottle of water from my mini fridge. The constant hum that it created soothed me at night, something in my life that was always there. I went to the bathroom and shut the door with a _click _behind me.

Two minutes in there and I suddenly heard an ear-splitting shriek and some jarbled up words, mixed together in a high-pitched wail.

My heart instantly started beating faster and my throat closed up.

I shut the water off and quickly slapped my hands dry on my jeans. "Chloe?" My voice was high was panic.

More shrieking, and a loud thud emanated from the room. I fumbled with the door's lock and practically kicked the door open.

"_Chloe_!"

My eyes searched the room, and for a horrible moment, I thought she was gone. But then I saw small curls peeking out from under my blankets, which were wrapped tightly around her small, curled-up body.

"Chloe? What the hell happened?"

I walked over to her and tried to pry the sheet from her face, but she stubbornly held tight.

"There's a spider next to your fridge!" she wailed.

I stared at her, dumbfounded. I closed my eyes and imagined myself banging my head against a wall.

Repetitively.

"_Jesus, _cutie! I thought you were getting murdered!"

"You know I'm afraid of spiders!"

I just rolled my eyes and planted a kiss on one of her showing fingertips, and got up to smash the bloody thing. Just as I was about to squash it wish a paper, Chloe sat up.

"No!"

I turned around, an eyebrow cocked. "No? Chloe, this thing sent you into a conniption. You want it to stay in here all night?"

"No," Chloe repeated again. She bit her lip. "Will you just let it outside? I don't want him to die."

"So it's a him now," I muttered.

I scooped the blasted spider up on the paper and opened a window. I stuck my hand out and let the spider crawl to the wall.

I turned back around, placing the paper on the desk.

Chloe peeped out from under the blanket and giggled at me. She got up, dragging the blanket around her and trotted over to me.

"Have I ever told you you're the best boyfriend ever?"

She opened her arms, blanket with it, and wrapped me in it too. I laughed and wound my arms around her waist, the sheet falling around us like a curtain, and ducked down to plant chaste kisses on her neck.

"Nope, but I like the sound of it," I murmured.

"As long as you keep taking care of spiders for me, you'll keep hearing it," Chloe sighed.

"Okay, I think we've spent enough time cooped up in here. Let's go."

Chloe pulled back, her eyes startled. "What? Go where?"

"To your house, silly. As much as we both might resent your father, he just lost the only wife he's ever had. I think...I think we should be there."

She pouted and wrapped her arms and legs around my torso like a little kid. She mumbled something into my chest.

"Come on, cutie. You have to go home sometime."

Chloe got off me and sighed. Her eyes glazed over again and she put the blanket back on my bed. I gently took one of her hands in mine, and we walked down the stairs in what I knew was a sad silence, towards her alarmingly empty house.

Yes, there were always two people living in it. Her father is there.

But it isn't empty of inhabitants.

It's empty in soul, and Chloe and I both knew that.


End file.
